Bengals workouts bonuses owed as OTAs begin

Monday marked the first day of organized team activities for the Cincinnati Bengals.

For several players, it was also the first day they could begin working toward a lucrative offseason workout bonus. Most players have these in their contracts, but to what degree tends to reflect the importance of the player to their respective team.

Case in point: The Bengals' six biggest workout bonus earners this year are George Iloka, Carlos Dunlap, Geno Atkins, Vincent Rey, Rey Maualuga and Michael Johnson. That's more than half of the team's starting defense, not to mention arguably their best player overall in Atkins.

Simply put, teams want to put a heavy emphasis on players participating in offseason workouts, especially when it comes to the team's highest-paid players. But this can also be a big deal for some of the less-heralded guys not making much more than the NFL veteran minimum salary.

A good example is defensive tackle Pat Sims, who's making an average annual salary of $1.15 million. His $75,000 workout bonus is a pretty big deal since Sims is barely making more than $1 million in 2016.

The good news for Sims and every player is that they won't have to do a lot of strenuous activities for the start of OTAs. For the first two weeks of the voluntary workouts, training staffs can take players through strength and conditioning work in addition to rehab drills. That's key for guys like defensive tackle Brandon Thompson earning his $30,000 workout bonus. He can't do full workouts while recovering from an ACL tear, but will get that bonus as long as he's doing his rehab work with the Bengals' staff.

Here is a list of all the workout bonuses various Bengals can earn this offseason, per Spotrac:

S George Iloka $300,000

DE Carlos Dunlap $300,000

DT Geno Atkins $300,000

LB Vincent Rey $300,000

LB Rey Maualuga $300,000

DE Michael Johnson $250,000

DT Domata Peko $200,000

LB Vontaze Burfict $200,000

QB Andy Dalton $200,000

WR A.J. Green $200,000

WR Brandon LaFell $200,000

OG Clint Boling $200,000

CB Adam Jones $200,000

OT Andrew Whitworth $200,000

LB Karlos Dansby $100,000

LB A.J. Hawk $100,000

K Mike Nugent $100,000

DT Pat Sims: $75,000

P Kevin Huber: $50,000

RB Giovani Bernard: $50,000

RB Cedric Peerman: $50,000

DE Margus Hunt: $50,000

RB Jeremy Hill: $50,000

LS Clark Harris: $50,000

TE Tyler Kroft: $10,000

LB Paul Dawson: $10,000

DE Will Clarke: $15,000

WR Brandon Tate: $20,000

S Taylor Mays: $20,000

OT Eric Winston: $25,000

DT Brandon Thompson: $30,000