Ryan Tannehill has already cashed in a little on career season

As part of the trade that sent him from the Miami Dolphins to the Tennessee Titans last offseason, Ryan Tannehill took a substantial pay cut. The Dolphins also picked up $5 million of what he was then owned via a signing bonus, leaving the Titans paying just $1.75 million in base salary and a $250,000 roster on the likelihood he'd be on the 46-man active roster for at least 13 games this season.

A 2-4, and having pulled Marcus Mariota the previous week from a shut out loss to the Denver Broncos, the Titans turned to Tannehill to make his first start of the season in Week 7 against the Los Angeles Chargers. He did not look back, setting career marks across the board as the Titans went 7-3 over the rest of the regular season and have now pulled off two playoff upsets heading into Sunday's AFC Championship Game against the Kansas City Chiefs.

Tannehill was named NFL Comeback Player of the Year and Most Improved Player by the Pro Football Writers of America this past week.

Tannehill had incentives that allowed him earn back some of the money he lost. He ended up earning precisely $3.425 million by reaching some of those incentives.

Here's the breakdown, via Ian Rapoport of NFL Network.

$250,000 roster bonus, for being on the 46-man roster for 13 games
$1 million, for passer rating over 96 (117.5)
$1 million for games he played at least 50 percent of the snaps (10 x $100,000)
$175,000 for seven regular seasons wins ($25,000 per)
$500,000 for more than 2,250 passing yards (2,742)
$500,000 for more than 20 touchdown passes  (22)

Taking out the (barring injury) likely to have been earned roster bonus as no worse than the No. 2 quarterback on game days for the Titans, that's still a nice extra $3.175 million Tannehill collected to bring his total pay to $10.25 million for this year. He also had what would have been the final year of his contract voided as part of the trade, so he's set to hit free agency in March.

The Titans have a couple big offseason decisions coming. Running back Derrick Henry is also hitting free agency, coming off a regular season rushing title and historic playoff production heading into Sunday against Kansas City. It may come down to which of the two gets a long-term deal, which (or both) gets a tag (franchise or transition) or, thirdly and less likely, which is allowed to hit the open market unabated.

In any case, Tannehill has made himself some money this offseason as the best season of his career winds down. And he didn't have to wait all the way to free agency to collect some extra dough.