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Blake Martinez, Justin McCray parlay success into big performance bonuses

GREEN BAY, Wis. -- Blake Martinez not only led the Green Bay Packers -- and tied for the NFL lead -- in tackles, but he will collect the biggest chunk of the team’s performance-based pay distributions for the 2017 season.

According to figures released on Wednesday, Martinez will collect $384,390.54 -- the 14th-highest total in the NFL from last season.

That total is in addition to the $540,000 base salary Martinez made last season, which was his second year in the league. The performance-based pay system typically benefits players in their first NFL contracts, or minimum-salaried free-agent signings who become significant contributors.

Martinez played the second-most snaps among all Packers’ defensive players last and finished with 144 tackles -- tied with two other linebackers: Buffalo’s Preston Brown and Cleveland’s Joe Schobert.

Backup offensive lineman Justin McCray, who played last season for the first-year minimum salary of $465,000, collected the most among the Packers’ offensive players at $229,348.28. McCray started eight games at three different positions (five games at right tackle, two at left guard and one at right guard).

Each team has a pool of $5,192,500 that is distributed among players who appeared in games last season. Of that total, $1.1 million is allotted to veterans only. The other $4,192,500 is split among all players.

Here’s a list of the Packers’ players who received money from the performance-based pay system (last year’s distributions can be found here):