Chiefs cornerback Trent McDuffie’s Pro Bowl snub will cost him more than $4 million
In addition to the honor of being selected, there is a financial aspect to the NFL’s Pro Bowl.
Each player on the winning team in this year’s Pro Bowl will receive $92,000, while members of the losing team are guaranteed $46,000.
But Chiefs cornerback Trent McDuffie’s surprising omission from the AFC Pro Bowl team will cost him significantly more money than that.
According to the NFL’s collective bargaining agreement, every player who is drafted signs a contract that is four years in length. But teams can exercise an option for a fifth year on players chosen in the first round.
In the case of McDuffie, who was selected with the 21st pick in the 2022 NFL Draft, the Chiefs must give him written notice — sometime after Sunday’s regular-season finale, but before May 3 — that they intend to exercise a fifth-year option.
It would be a shock if that didn’t happen, because McDuffie was a first-team All-Pro selection last season.
The salary for that fifth year is determined by a number of factors, including Pro Bowl selections. McDuffie is a Pro Bowl alternate, but had he been selected on an original ballot, his fifth-year salary would be at the amount of a transition tender.
That’s the average of the 10 highest salaries for a player’s position.
Instead, OverTheCap.com said McDuffie’s fifth-year option will be roughly $12.7 million. Had McDuffie been picked for the Pro Bowl, that option would have paid him approximately $17.2 million.
That’s a difference of more than $4 million. And if McDuffie had made the Pro Bowl twice, that option would have been based on the franchise tender (average of the five highest salaries at his position), and his option year would have paid him $20.3 million, per Over The Cap.
This is good news for the Chiefs, who will have more salary-cap space.
Chiefs safety Justin Reid spoke out about how the Pro Bowl snub will be costly to McDuffie.
“Robbery… can’t stand Pro Bowl voting format,” Reid wrote on X.
Karlaftis, too
Chiefs defensive lineman George Karlaftis, the 30th overall pick in the 2022 NFL Draft, also was a Pro Bowl alternate.
Karlaftis, who has eight sacks this season, would have been paid about $20.7 million for his fifth year contract, per Over The Cap, had he been picked for the Pro Bowl.
Instead, Karlaftis will receive roughly $14.5 million. That’s a $6 million savings for the Chiefs, who are likely to exercise the options on Karlaftis and McDuffie.
This story was originally published January 3, 2025 at 9:34 AM.
