Green Bay Packers offensive lineman Jon Runyan Jr. earned a bump in base salary for the 2023 season thanks to the proven performance escalator (PPE), a provision in the CBA that allows draft picks outside the first round to increase base salary in the fourth year of a rookie deal based on playing time and performance during the player’s first three seasons.
Runyan earned a first-level escalator after playing at least 35 percent of the Packers’ offensive snaps during at least two of his first three seasons. As a result, his base salary in 2023 increased to $2,745,000. His new cap hit next season will be $2,788,670, per Over the Cap.
Runyan, the 192nd overall pick in 2020, played 94 percent of the team’s offensive snaps in 2021 and 96 percent in 2022.
Runyan is the only player from the Packers’ 2020 draft class to earn the escalator. He’s also one of just eight sixth-round picks from the NFL’s 2020 draft to hit at least the first escalator.
Runyan has played 1,555 snaps at left guard and another 703 at right guard since joining the Packers.
From the 2021 class, offensive lineman Royce Newman will hit at least the first-level escalator in 2024 after playing 97 percent of snaps in 2021 and 41 percent of snaps in 2022. Center Josh Myers, who played 100 percent of snaps in 2022, will also be expected to hit the first-level escalator.
The second-level escalator requires playing at least 55 percent of snaps in all three seasons, while the third-level escalator is reserved for players who earn a Pro Bowl selection on the original ballot in any of the first three seasons.
In recent years, running backs Aaron Jones and Jamaal Williams, receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling and offensive lineman Elgton Jenkins hit proven performance escalators for the Packers.
