Saturday afternoon’s game between the Baltimore Ravens and the Pittsburgh Steelers didn’t mean a whole lot for the home team, as Baltimore already wrapped up the No. 1 seed in the AFC and had the luxury of resting some guys. There was, however, one player on the Ravens who had a whole lot riding on this game, as veteran edge rusher Jadeveon Clowney had some money on the line in this one.
Basically, Clowney needed one sack to reach 9.5 on the year, which would tie a career high. More importantly, if Clowney got that sack, he’d earn a contract bonus worth $750,000. And with less than a minute remaining in the first half, Clowney got that sack, which means he’s guaranteed a major chunk of change. Unsurprisingly, he was in a pretty good mood after this, so he started dancing around on the field.
.@clownejd needed a sack to reach his incentive for the season.
He got it and went CRAZY.
: #PITvsBAL on ESPN/ABC
: Stream on #NFLPlus https://t.co/WxnOXJY8R6 pic.twitter.com/MGFK4aRq5h— NFL (@NFL) January 6, 2024
Now, I have never just gotten $750,000 for doing something, but my guess is that I’d have a pretty similar reaction. And as an added bonus, this ended up being a pretty impactful moment in the game, as this sack put Pittsburgh way behind the sticks as they were attempting to kick a field goal at the end of the first half. Two plays later and a strip sack on Mason Rudolph got recovered by the Ravens, which sent the two teams into the locker room at halftime tied 7-7.