Offensive tackle Dan Moore Jr. of the Pittsburgh Steelers left a lot to be desired in his 2023 play, especially in pass protection. However, he played well enough to earn approximately $740,000 in bonus.
The NFL announced on April 1 that Moore received a $740,000 bonus in the league’s performance-based pay distributions. This ranked him 23rd among all players who received a bonus in the program.
The program creates a fund to use as an extra form of payment to players based on comparison of playing time to salary.
“Players become eligible to receive a bonus distribution in any regular season in which they play at least one official down,” the NFL wrote in a press release. “In general, players with higher playtime percentages and lower salaries benefit most from the pool.”
Offensive linemen generally benefit the most from the program. Moore was one of 11 offensive linemen who were among the top 25 in performance-based pay distributions for the 2023 season.
According to the Pro Football Focus player grades, Moore was the worst performer in pass blocking among offensive tackles who played at least 50% of his team’s offensive snaps in 2023. In true pass blocking sets, Moore achieved a 33.2 PFF grade out of 100.
Moore did better as a run blocker, earning a 60.4 run blocking grade from PFF.
Steelers’ Dan Moore Jr. Earns NFL Bonus
Even though Moore didn’t play particularly well in 2023, it's not a huge surprise he received the performance-based bonus. Moore also earned a bonus from the same program in 2022.
The Steelers drafted Moore in the fourth round of the 2021 NFL draft. Since then, he has started every game but two for Pittsburgh at left tackle.
Because of all of those starts, Moore earned another bonus with the league’s proven performance escalator. This will increase his salary for the final year of his rookie contract.
Moore’s bonus through the NFL’s performance-based pay distributions will not count toward Pittsburgh’s salary cap. But his increase in salary with the proven performance escalator will.
The Steelers left tackle will have a base salary of about $3.37 million for the 2024 season. This is an increase of more than $2 million from $940,000 in 2023.
Will Moore Remain Steelers Starting Left Tackle?
Moore will make additional money during the 2024 season. However, that doesn’t mean he will keep his job.
Steelers general manager Omar Khan made it rather clear at the NFL combine that the team drafted offensive tackle Broderick Jones to start at left tackle. Last year, Jones started the second half of the season at right tackle after Moore won the left tackle job in training camp.
At some point, Jones will move back to left tackle. The question entering offseason workouts is whether Jones will make that switch for 2024.
Based on the PFF player grades, Jones performed similarly to Moore. Jones did better in run blocking than pass protection, where he graded particularly poorly. Jones had a 47.6 pass blocking grade, which was third-worst among offensive tackles who played at least 50% of his team’s offensive snaps in the NFL.
Perhaps Jones will do better, though, when he goes back to his more natural position of left tackle.
Whether the Steelers move Jones to left tackle could depend on what the team aims for in the NFL draft. The 2024 class has a lot of good offensive tackles, but most of the prospects aren't proven left tackle stars.
However, with Jones' ability to play different positions, the team has some options. It could choose to draft either a left or right tackle in the first round and have that player start on the opposite side of Jones. In that case, Moore, who isn't suited to start at any position except left tackle, would go to the bench.
