How Joe Flacco Could Earn Lots of Extra Money During Stint With Bengals

When Joe Flacco agreed to a one-year, $4 million deal with the Browns over the offseason, it was reported that his contract also included $9 million worth of incentives.

So now that he's got the starting role again following a trade to Cincinnati, let's take a look at how some of those incentives break down, and how they could translate into a nice windfall.

Per ESPN's Dan Graziano, Flacco has a per-game incentive bonus of $75,000 for every game in which he plays at least 50% of the team's offensive snaps and the Bengals win, although this will not kick in until the fourth such occurrence. As of this writing, he has won one game with the Browns and one with the Bengals.

But let's say the Bengals win six more games under the appropriate conditions (i.e., Flacco plays at least 50% of snaps). In that case, the veteran quarterback would earn an extra $375,000, as calculated by Graziano. And should the team win its remaining 10 games, with Flacco playing at least half of each contest, he would therefore earn an extra $675,000.

Additionally, the 40-year-old signal-caller's deal features up to $3 million in incentives relating to playing time and success. Should he play between 60% and 69.99% of the team's offensive snaps, he is poised for a $500,000 bonus. That payday increases to $1 million if he plays between 70% and 79.99% of snaps, then to $1.5 million if he plays 80% or more. And should the unit make the playoffs (as the Bengals are certainly hoping), the above bonuses would double.

All in all, there is far more cash on the table than the deal's headlining number might suggest. And now that Flacco is QB1, with virtually no competition behind him (it's hard to imagine the team returning to Jake Browning, who did not play well when filling in initially), it feels possible that a good bit of it could be his.