A couple of you have e-mailed this to me, or linked it in the comments. This article about former Pitt Tackle Rob Petitti making some nice change from the NFL’s Performance Based Pay-Program (PBP).
The second-year veteran, who started all 16 games for the Dallas Cowboys at right tackle in 2005, is now a true believer. Only the 209th prospect selected in the 2005 draft, having dropped into the sixth round after an injury-plagued senior season at the University of Pittsburgh overshadowed what had been an otherwise superb college career, Petitti is No. 1 on this year’s performance-based pay roll call.
His windfall, a record $271,287, is nearly $45,000 more than last year’s biggest beneficiary, New York Jets safety Erik Coleman. And it represents a nifty 95 percent increase in Petitti’s 2005 compensation. Notable is the fact Coleman ranked in the top 25 again for 2005, pocketing $196,813 in PBP funds.
According to the article, Petitti made about $284,000 last season from the league minimum and his signing bonus. The PBP seems like a very good program, that until now, I had never heard of.
Around the league, there are a lot of players feeling really good about the PBP program, implemented in 2002 as part of that year’s extension to the collective bargaining agreement, to establish a fund from NFL revenues to supplement the salaries of men whose playing time in a given season is disproportionate to their compensation. Those who benefit the most are primarily guys like Petitti, young players who generally are earning a minimum base salary.
Every player in the league who participates in even one snap receives something from the PBP pool, which does not impact a player’s salary cap charge. The pool to fund the supplements is deducted from the overall league salary cap funds, and it was essentially created by slowing the annual increases in base salaries and by blunting the increases in the annual rookie allocation pool.
What I liked reading, in Petitti’s case, is that most of it went into a mutual fund for savings for the future. Always glad to read when there are athletes actually planning ahead — especially ones who aren’t making a ton of money. He did indulge in the purchase of a new hot tub, though he might make an argument that it should be deducted from his taxes as a work-related expense.
