The New York Giants have had a disappointing year. They're in the midst of their sixth losing season since winning the Super Bowl in 2011. But there have been a few bright spots, like Eli Manning winning what should be his final start for the team and linebacker Markus Golden having a career renaissance. The 28-year-old has recorded 65 tackles, 10 sacks, and returned a fumble for a touchdown.
While those are all solid stats, the sacks are what Golden cares about most. He has an incentive clause written in his contract: get at least 10 sacks and score a cool million dollars.
After the Giants' 41-35 overtime win over the Washington Redskins in Week 16, Golden had 9.5 sacks. Astute mathematicians will note that 9.5 isn't quite 10.
Here's what happened: Early in the third quarter, Giants linebacker Lorenzo Carter grabbed Washington quarterback Dwayne Haskins around the ankle. Golden came in and took Haskins to the ground.
Sarah Stier/Getty Images
At first, each player received half a sack. But a few days later, a stat correction awarded Golden a full sack – and with it, $1 million.
Golden had 12.5 sacks with the Arizona Cardinals in 2016, but a knee injury limited him to only 2.5 sacks combined in 2017 and 2018.
The Giants gave him a one-year, $3.75 million deal this offseason. It's the ultimate "prove it" contract, and Golden has responded in a big way.
"It's always a goal to get double-digit sacks," he told ESPN after learning about the stat correction. "If you're rushing the passer, you want to get there. It's a status thing – 9.5 is a big difference than 10. It feels good to get it down, get it over with and, like I said, be able to put it out for my kids to be able to keep playing, keep fighting."
Golden's performance this season will likely earn him a huge payday this summer. And thanks to a statistician keeping a close eye on things, that payday came early.
