Broncos’ Riley Moss nearly doubles 2025 money via performance-based pay

The offseason has already been a good one for Broncos cornerback Riley Moss.

Denver’s third-year cornerback finished No. 12 in performance-based pay and brought home an extra $1,136,103 because of it.

That nearly doubles Moss’ pay for the 2025 season considering he had a base salary of $1,245,266.

Performance-based pay is supplemental income distributed each year to players by the NFL based on a formula that weighs playing time against base salary. It is part of the collective bargaining agreement between the NFL and the NFL Players Association and has been in place since 2002.

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Any player who plays a snap is eligible and many players receive at least some money, but players who have low salaries and end up playing a lot are typically in line for the biggest distributions.

Moss started all 17 regular-season games for the Broncos and logged 97% of Denver’s defensive snaps while also chipping in 15% of the club’s special teams snaps.

The performance-based pay pool continues to rise across the league. After distributing a total of $452 million a year ago, the league distributed $542 million this year. That means each club’s roster received a total of $16.65 million, up from $14.13 million a year ago.

Behind Moss, four other players topped $800,000: Center Luke Wattenberg ($887,647), nickel Ja’Quan McMillian ($866,178), offensive lineman Alex Palczewski ($853,302) and outside linebacker Dondrea Tillman ($808,853).

Most of the top of the list is young players on rookie contracts or former undrafted free agents. The rest of Denver’s top 10 went WR Troy Franklin, OLB Jonah Elliss, All-Pro special teamer Devon Key, RB Tyler Badie and DL Eyioma Uwazurike.

Established players and top draft picks can earn a good bit of extra money too, though.

Safety Talanoa Hufanga logged 97.7% of playing time based on the calculations and took home an extra $427,726. Starting quarterback Bo Nix got $369,400 and all-pro left guard Quinn Meinerz was right after him at $308,969.

A year ago, only five players league-wide topped $1 million in PBP. This year, 25 players topped that mark.

Last year Moss was third on the Broncos at $650,787, trailing McMillian ($773,090) and Wattenberg ($662,587).

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