How Sean Rhyan Came Up Two Plays Short of a Big Payday
For most of us, missing two steps on the job isn’t that big of a deal. Maybe you forget an email. Maybe you leave a little early. For Sean Rhyan, it cost him $2 million.
Yes—literally two snaps on a football field.
The Green Bay Packers guard was just barely under the threshold to earn a massive salary bump for 2025. All he needed to do was play in a tiny bit more than 35% of the Packers’ offensive plays over his first three NFL seasons. He played in 34.952%. And that 0.048% difference? Worth a whopping $2,042,429.
What Happened A Look at the Snap Count Curse
There’s this thing in the NFL called the “Proven Performance Escalator.” Basically, if you’re drafted in the middle or late rounds and play a solid amount in your first few years, you get a raise in your fourth season. Think of it as the league’s way of saying, “Hey, you’ve outperformed your rookie deal—here’s some respect (and money).”
For Rhyan, that raise would’ve boosted his 2025 salary from $1.36 million to $3.41 million. Not bad, right?
But the catch is that 35% playing time number. That’s the mark. Hit it, and boom—payday. Miss it, and sorry, you’re stuck with your original salary.
Rhyan’s final tally over his first three years? 1,144 offensive snaps out of 3,272 total. That’s 34.952%. Two more snaps would’ve done it. Two.
Breaking It Down: How Close Was He Really
Let’s rewind:
- 2022 (Rookie year): Basically a redshirt season. Rhyan played in only one game and didn’t get on the field for a single offensive snap. He logged one snap on special teams, but those don’t count toward the escalator.
- 2023: He started getting reps—183 snaps total at left and right guard—but that was still only 16.7% of the team’s offensive plays that year. Not enough.
- 2024: This was his breakout. Rhyan became a starter and played 961 out of 1,082 possible snaps—88.8%. He split time early in the year with rookie Jordan Morgan, but after Morgan’s season-ending injury in Week 9, Rhyan locked it down. Except… there was one hiccup. In Week 14, he briefly left a game after a hit and missed eight snaps. He returned, but those eight missing snaps might’ve changed his life.
Add it all up and Rhyan came up just short of 35%. And not even an extra play would’ve helped. That would’ve gotten him to 34.983%. It had to be two. At least.
The Pain of Precision
Rhyan and his agent, Cameron Foster, weren’t clueless. They thought they were safe.
In fact, according to unofficial sources like Pro Football Reference, he did play 1,146 snaps, which would’ve put him at 35.003%. Just enough.
But here’s the problem: the NFL doesn’t use those numbers. The league and the NFL Players Association have their own official count. And according to them? He was short.
That’s it. Game over.
Foster said, “We had him at 35% of snaps exactly.” But the Packers told them that, based on official stats, he didn’t qualify. And even if the team wanted to toss Rhyan a bonus out of sympathy or fairness—they can’t. Escalator rules are firm, and salary cap implications make it complicated to just “fix” it.
In short, the NFL isn’t rounding up.
A Brutal Pill to Swallow
It stings more when you look at how far Rhyan has come. His rookie year was rocky—not only did he barely play, but he was also suspended six games for violating the league’s policy on performance-enhancing substances. That cost him $235,000 in salary.
Since then, he’s worked to turn things around. His strong performance in 2024 even earned him $697,006 through the league’s performance-based pay program—a system that rewards lower-salary players who play big minutes. On the Packers, only two other linemen made more: Rasheed Walker and Zach Tom.
So Rhyan has been delivering. That makes missing out on the escalator even more painful.
What Happens Now
Looking forward, Rhyan still has a shot to cash in next year. He’s entering a contract year, and he’s expected to compete for the starting right guard job again in 2025. Morgan will be back and could push for that spot too, or even shift to left tackle, depending on how the line shapes up.
If Rhyan wins the job and holds onto it for the season, he’ll have a solid case for a bigger extension or even a nice payday in free agency.
But the $2 million raise he should have had locked in? That’s gone. There’s no appeal, no redo. He either hit the mark or he didn’t—and officially, he didn’t.
Source: Packers’ Sean Rhyan missed out on $2M raise by two snaps
A Lesson for Everyone in the NFL
If there’s one takeaway from Rhyan’s situation, it’s this: every single play matters. A couple of missed reps here and there might not seem like a big deal in the moment—but when it comes time to check the math, they add up fast.
For agents and players, this is a wake-up call. Don’t rely on unofficial stats. Double-check everything with the official league numbers. Fight for every snap, because you never know which one will be worth a house, a car, or in Rhyan’s case—two million bucks.

Final Thoughts
Sean Rhyan didn’t fumble. He didn’t miss a block that cost a game. He just… barely missed the fine print of a rule buried in the NFL’s giant rulebook. And because of that, his 2025 paycheck will be a lot lighter than expected.
It’s one of those stories that makes you shake your head—not because anyone screwed up, but because the system is so precise, so unforgiving.
In a sport that comes down to inches, Rhyan just learned that sometimes, the smallest margins matter most—not just on the scoreboard, but on your paycheck too.
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