Mason Crosby beat out Giorgio Tavecchio and Zach Ramirez to retain his job as the Green Bay Packers' kicker. Now, Crosby will have to outperform the 2012 version of himself if he's going to get paid this season the way he expected to.
Crosby accepted a restructured contract with the Packers that lowers his 2013 salary from $2.4 million down to $800,000. Crosby's new contract is already official in the NFL database. The final two years of Crosby's contract were not changed, so he's still scheduled to earn $2.65 million in 2014 and $2.8 million in 2015.
Multiple reports have added that Crosby would receive a $400,000 roster bonus if he's still with Green Bay in Week 6, and that he'd get another $400,000 if on the Packers' roster in Week 11.
However, there is some discrepancy in performance-based incentives. USA Today reported that another $800,000 is part of "not likely to be earned" incentives, while ESPN.com wrote that Crosby gets the $800,000 if he makes 85 percent of his field-goal attempts (he made 85.7 percent in the 2011 season). The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that Crosby would get just $400,000 if he repeated his 2011 success and made 85 percent of his field-goal attempts.
Crosby originally signed a five-year, $14.75 million contract with the Packers before the 2011 season.
So, just because Crosby is returning to Green Bay for a seventh season doesn't mean the Packers' front office doesn't have some hesitation in bringing him back. Crosby had the worst field-goal accuracy rate in the NFL last season, making only 21 of his 33 field-goal attempts (63.6 percent).
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