Packers guard loses $2 million for the most avoidable reason

Sean Rhyan emerged from out of nowhere to become a key piece of the Green Bay Packers offensive line last season, and he seems set to slot back into his right guard position for the 2025 campaign. However, he will be pretty upset to find out that he missed out on a major $2 million bonus by just two snaps.

How is that possible? It starts with Rhyan's rookie contract, which he earned after he was selected in the third round of the 2022 NFL draft. If Rhyan played a certain number of snaps, he would have qualified for the proven performance escalator, which would have resulted in his 2025 salary jumping from $1.3 million to $3.4 million.

The problem is that Rhyan missed out on hitting the performance incentive by just two snaps. Rhyan needed to play in 35% of Green Bay's snaps since getting drafted in order to qualify for the pay raise, but his snap count of 1,144 out of a possible 3,272 snaps came in at 34.983%.

Fans immediately wondered whether or not that figure could be rounded up, or if the Packers could just pay him the bonus anyway. Neither is possible, though, as there is specific language in Rhyan's contract that prevents the percentage from being rounded up, and since it's an incentive initiative implemented by the NFL, Green Bay couldn't decide to pay Rhyan more unless they handed him a new contract.

Making the situation even more frustrating is that Rhyan's camp initially believed he had played the proper number of snaps in order to qualify for this salary bump. Rhyan's agent, Cameron Foster, revealed that they had him playing exactly 35% of Green Bay's snaps, but the NFL disagreed when looking at the offensive lineman's snap counts.

"[We had] him at 35% of snaps exactly," Foster told ESPN. "However, the NFL and NFLPA both had him just under. So, per the Packers they are not giving him the escalator. We are pretty disappointed about it for sure."

Rhyan was a standout performer at right guard in 2024, and if he puts together another strong season in 2025, he's going to get paid either way, whether it be from the Packers or another team, as he is in the final year of his rookie deal. You can bet, though, that Rhyan still would have liked to see that $2 million raise come his way this season.