Tight end Ben Watson will miss the first four games this season with the New England Patriots for violating the league policy on performance enhancing substances.
Watson said in a Facebook message Sunday (May 26) he underwent a legal testosterone treatment as prescribed by a doctor in March, well before he decided against retirement and chose in May to play another NFL season. Until then, he considered himself retired and began the testosterone treatments as a method to help his body recover from 15 seasons as an NFL player.
The suspension may not have an effect on Watson's 2019 salary, though.
According to NBS Sports, Watson’s deal carries $650,000 in incentives and he’ll still have a chance to earn the extra money.
Watson gets $250,000 if he participates in 35 percent of the team’s offensive snaps. He’ll get another $400,000 if he makes it to 45 percent. Of course, the loss of four games will make it harder to reach those incentives, but it isn't impossible. Essentially, he will need to play 66 percent of the snaps over the remainder of the season to reach those thresholds.
How does that amount compare to what he will lose?
Well, first, Watson will forfeit four of his 17 weekly paychecks. With a base salary of $1.45 million, that amounts to $341,117.
Second, he’ll miss four per-game roster bonus payments of $18,750. That equals out to to another $75,000.
This comes out to $416,117 guaranteed to be forfeited, with the potential sum to be greater depending on contractual language regarding his signing bonus. In addition, since he will miss week 1, his salary will not become guaranteed until he takes the field. So the Pats could cut him anytime in that four-week window and owe him nearly nothing.
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