Dallas linebacker Sean Lee is inactive today in the Cowboys final game of the season against the Washington Redskins due to a hamstring injury he suffered at practice. Considering that the Cowboys have long since been eliminated and Washington is locked into the four seed, Lee not playing doesn’t seem like a that big of a story on the surface.
However, it is a huge deal to at least one person: Lee.
You see, Lee had an incentive in his contract that stated that if he played in 80 percent of the Cowboys snaps this season that his base salary would increase from $3 million to $5 million. By being unable to play in the Cowboys final game, Lee lost out on what would essentially have been 40 percent of his salary for the 2015 season.
Lee told reporters after the game that the decision to not play was his own, as he felt it would be “disrespectful” to his teammates if he played when he wasn’t healthy enough to be effective.
Meanwhile, Lee’s teammate Greg Hardy had his own incentive to play, as if he recorded two sacks in the Cowboys’ final game, he’d have received a $500,000 bonus. He did not hit the mark.
Cowboys' DE Greg Hardy cashes in on a $500K incentive today if he gets two sacks vs Washington and he gets a total of $1M for four sacks.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) January 3, 2016
Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.
(Via Sportsday)
