Every offseason, the NFL awards a performance-based pay bonus to hundreds of players around the league.
Each team was given $3.802 million to divvy up this year and the best part is that none of the money counts against a team's salary cap.
The bonuses are always good news for players like Broncos center Matt Paradis and Bengals offensive lineman Russell Bodine, who earned $391,647 and $352,270 through the NFL's system. A total of eight players received at least $300,000 this year.
In most cases, undrafted free agents, and late-round rookies who earn a lot of playing time will get the most money as the system is setup to reward players who play a lot, but aren't paid that much.
Unfortunately for Matt Cassel, he doesn't fall into either of those categories.
The good news for Cassel though is that he will be getting a bonus this year. The bad news is that he probably won't even be able to take his wife out on a date with the bonus.
Cassel was awarded $58.73. That's the kind of money you rake in when you only play one snap for a team. Cassel took the first snap of the season for the Bills and then never played again for Buffalo because he was traded to Dallas after Week 2.
The Bills actually lost six yards on the play, so if you think about it, Cassel was basically paid about $10 in bonus money for every yard he lost during his Bills career. Someone like Ryan Leaf could've been a billionaire if he was paid for losing yards.
Anyway, you shouldn't feel sorry for Cassel because he also raked in a $28,241 bonus that came courtesy of his time with the Cowboys.
Cassel also just signed a one-year, $2 million deal with the Titans, so he'll be just fine.
