Former Bears safety Nahshon Wright gets a $1.4M bonus from NFL’s performance pay program

By Canadian Press on March 16, 2026.

Former Chicago Bears defensive back Nahshon Wright more than doubled his 2025 earnings thanks to a bonus from the NFL’s performance-based pay program.

The league announced on Monday that more than $542 million will be paid out to players for their performance in 2025 through the program with Wright receiving the most at more than $1.4 million.

Wright was paid $1.1 million by the Bears last season when he had five interceptions, three fumble recoveries and two forced fumbles to help Chicago win the NFC North for the first time since 2018. Wright was just the second player in the past 15 years to hit those marks in a season with Minkah Fitzpatrick doing it in 2019.

Wright signed a one-year deal with the New York Jets last week worth a reported $3.5 million.

The program is part of the CBA and compensates players based upon their playing time and salary levels, rewarding players who have low salaries and play a high percentage of downs. Players have been paid nearly $3.3 billion since the inception of the program in 2002.

For the first time, the top 25 earners in the program all got paid more than $1 million. That’s in comparison to 2024 when only five players exceeded the $1 million mark. The pay from the program does not impact the salary cap for teams.

The rest of the top 10 in bonuses from last season were Cleveland safety Ronnie Hickman, Atlanta tackle Elijah Wilkinson, Carolina safety Nick Scott, Washington guard Chris Paul, Baltimore guard Andrew Vorhees, Minnesota defensive end Jalen Redmond, Pittsburgh guard Mason McCormick, Kansas City safety Chamarri Conner and New England safety Craig Woodson.

Those players all received approximately $1.15 million to $1.3 million in extra pay.

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AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL

Josh Dubow, The Associated Press