Eric Weddle plans to share recently earned $1 million bonus with teammates
Earlier this season, Baltimore Ravens safety Eric Weddle said he’d rather make the playoffs than have a million dollars.
Even though he earned a $1 million bonus after a 26-24 win over the Cleveland Browns propelled the Ravens to an AFC North title, he may not keep all the money. It sounds like Weddle is about to get very generous.
“I’ve been thinking about it all week that if it happened, I’m going to do something nice for all my teammates and my coaches because I’m nothing without my team,” Weddle said, via ESPN. “As much as it’s for me and my play, my defense helped me get to where I’m at.”
Weddle has a special clause in his contract with $1 million in incentives if he made the Pro Bowl and the Ravens made the playoffs. After being named to his sixth Pro Bowl two weeks ago, Weddle completed the second half of the requirement with his fifth playoff berth in his 12-year career.
How will Weddle divide the bonus?
Weddle hasn’t quite said how he will use the bonus, but, to be fair, it’s only hours after his last game ended. Weddle did tell ESPN’s Jamison Hensley that he has “something in the works.”
According to TurboTax, people can give gifts of up to $15,000 annually with paying taxes, so Weddle could give just under that total to the 73 players on the active roster, reserved list and practice squad. But chances are that he will choose something other than a purely monetary gift.
Weddle is also known to be an enormous fan of ice cream. So perhaps he will throw the world’s largest ice cream party for the entire team. The world – and his teammates – will wait with bated breath.
Nick Foles was not nearly as lucky
Just 32 miles southwest of Weddle at FedExField, Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Nick Foles had a chance to earn a $1 million bonus of his own if he could lead his team to the playoffs and hit a snap count threshold.
Foles got the hard part done by winning on Sunday, while the Minnesota Vikings fell to the Chicago Bears. Unfortunately for Foles, though, a chest injury cut his day short and held him to playing just 61 of the team’s 71 offensive snaps.
Foles needed to play in 33 percent of the team’s offensive snaps and sat at 29.9 percent going into Week 17 to get his incentive. However, since he missed 10 snaps, he made it to only 32.7 percent. Just four more plays, and he would have earned the bonus. Of course, the Eagles can still opt to give him the money, but that’s no guarantee.
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