Details emerge on Ezekiel Elliott's contract with Patriots, and it's extremely team-friendly

FOXBORO -- There was a lot made earlier this week when it reported that Ezekiel Elliott's contract with the Patriots was worth "up to" $6 million. More details have now emerged on the deal, and it's a lot more team-friendly for the Patriots than anyone anticipated.

For Elliott to get that full $6 million, he's going to have to play a lot of football and produce at a level that he hasn't produced at in the last four years. 

According to Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio, Elliott's contract starts with a base salary of $1.55 million and a $600,000 signing bonus. That base salary drops to just $1 million if Elliott suffers a season-ending injury before the first game of the regular season.

The other $4 million of the deal is tied up in incentives, which will require Elliot to play a lot of snaps and rack up a lot of yards for New England.

Elliott will get $50,000 for each game that he's on the Patriots active roster, so if he dresses for all 17 regular season games, he'll get another $850,000. He'll get $300,000 if he plays 50 percent of the team's offensive snaps throughout the season, and another $300,000 if he hits the 55 percent, 60 percent, 65 percent, and 70 percent marks. Hitting all those marks will get him another $1.5 million.

There are also $300,000 bonuses tied up to Elliott's yards for the season. He'll get $300,000 for reaching 975 yards from scrimmage, and another $300,000 for hitting 1,100 yards, 1,225 yards, 1,350 yards, and 1,475 yards from scrimmage. Hitting all of those will get him another $1.5 million.

Elliott will basically take home at least $3 million if he's healthy and active this season, and the rest depends on how much he plays and how many yards he produced from the line of scrimmage. To earn the full $6 million, he'll have to play at least 70 percent of New England's offensive snaps and generate over 1,475 yards from scrimmage. It's a bit of a longshot.

He rushed for a career-low 876 yards and had another 92 receiving yards over 15 games last season, playing just 55 percent of Dallas' offensive snaps. The last time that Elliott eclipsed the 70 percent mark was in 2020, when he played 73 percent of Dallas' offensive snaps.

Elliott is now slotted in as New England's No. 2 back behind Rhamondre Stevenson, which will make racking up a lot of yards and snaps played difficult for the 28-year-old. Chances are he'll end up costing the Patriots somewhere between $3 million and $4 million, which will be a bargain for New England.