CHARLOTTE -- The Carolina Panthers are going to pick up a late Christmas bonus this week. But for some of them, it's the equivalent of socks and underwear under the tree.
When the playoffs roll around, players get supplemental checks for each week they play. The only problem? It's at a drastically reduced rate for most.
"You can't complain, because it's money that's not in your salary, and you're getting it," safety Chris Harris said.
Each player on the 53-man roster for Saturday's divisional playoff game, along with the players on injured reserve, will make $20,000.
While that sounds nice, it's a decrease in wages for all but the eight players on the Panthers' roster who are making the rookie minimum ($295,000). Because players get 17 checks a year, those guys make $17,352 a week before taxes.
But contrast that with left tackle Jordan Gross, the Panthers' franchise-tag recipient.
His salary this season is $7.455 million, giving him weekly checks of $438,529. That means what he earns Saturday night will cover 4.6 percent of his per annum, or right at two minutes and 45 seconds worth of regular-season work.
Gross was understandably embarrassed when asked about his postseason pay cut, looking over his shoulder for quarterback Jake Delhomme.
"Did Delhomme tell you to say that?" he said with a shrug. "I don't want to talk about it much. ... I think I'll make it through the recession."
Regardless the current economic climate, no one's complaining (at least publicly), because getting to the playoffs represents everyone's goal at the beginning of the season. But there is some back-room head scratching going on about the amount.
"I'm from Fort Wayne, Ind.," punter Jason Baker said, shaking his head. "Twenty grand is still twenty grand, I don't care what you're making."
Many players are going to use it to help offset losses on investments from the past year, but when times were different, so were priorities.
Harris said he was so confident his Bears team was going to the Super Bowl after the 2006 season that he went out the week of the divisional round of the playoffs and bought a new BMW. That they needed to go to overtime that week to beat Seattle might have had him playing for payments.
"That took a lot of confidence," he said with a laugh.
The checks get bigger as the weeks go on, with the conference championship games paying $37,500. The Super Bowl winner gets an additional $78,000, while the loser of the final game gets an extra $40,000.
Practice squad players continue to make the same $5,200 a week they make during the regular season.
The real windfall comes for coaches, who individually negotiate postseason bonuses into their contracts.
But the players also know they've got it better than most, so there's no quibbling over the amount.
Besides, this is what they've been playing for, and the reward's a trophy, not a paycheck.
"This is a job sometimes in April, in March when they call and say it's time to start lifting," Baker said Tuesday. "And sometimes it's a job in minicamp, and a lot of times it's a job during training camp, and even at times during the season when you're grinding, it's a job.
"But there's not a guy in here right now that's at work. This is not a job in January. This is a great opportunity to play. I'm pretty sure most of the guys in here know you don't get many shots at this, so how much you're making, that's not the highest priority."
