Arik Armstead and Austin Johnson missed crucial production benchmarks, costing them $1.25 million in bonuses during the Jaguars' Week 18 win.
In Sunday's regular-season finale, just 1.5 sacks stood between Arik Armstead and $1 million.
And the Jaguars defensive tackle didn't get it done.
The stakes were high for Jacksonville and Armstead in Week 18. The Jaguars were hosting division-rival Tennessee, trying to win the AFC South and clinch at least the 3-seed in the playoffs. Armstead was trying to reach seven sacks on the season, and he was still one-and-a-half shy of that contract stipulation in order to earn a $1M incentive bonus.
Jaguars defenders Dawuane Smoot (left) and Arik Armstead help make up one of the NFL's best run defenses this season. (Robert Goddin/Imagn Images)The Jags (13-4) got the win, sending the Titans to 3-14 on the season with a 41-7 drubbing. Jacksonville's defense was stout, holding Tennessee to 117 yards passing and 77 yards rushing; they scored on an Antonio Johnson pick-six, sent Cam Ward – the most sacked quarterback in the NFL this season – to the sideline with a shoulder sprain, and recorded one sack against backup QB Brandon Allen.
But it was Jags defensive end Dawuane Smoot who got the sack. Not Armstead.
That's $1 million worth of OOPS.
Armstead, of course, is no slouch. The 6-foot-7, 290-pound former first-round draft pick for the San Francisco 49ers ranked second in sacks for the Jaguars in his second season with the team, with 5.5. Armstead trailed defensive end Josh Hines-Allen, who finished the regular season with eight.
Nose tackle Austin Johnson signed with the Jaguars in August 2025 on a one-year contract. The 10-year veteran saw action in 14 games this season for the Jags, contributing to the defensive line's top-ranked run defense. (Darren Yamashita/Imagn Images)Armstead, 32, arrived in Jacksonville in 2024, after his release from the Niners. He signed a three-year, $51 million deal with the Jaguars. The Jaguars' 2024 NFL Walter Payton Award winner for his work with the Armstead Academic Project, a youth literacy and education initiative, Armstead missed two games this season to hand and foot injuries.
The only other Jaguar among the players on track in Week 18 to meet or miss production benchmarks in his contract, according to Spotrac.com, was Austin Johnson.
The backup nose tackle, who saw action in 14 games this season, needed one sack against the Titans on Sunday to cash in on a $250,000 bonus.
His one-year, $2 million contract with the Jaguars included a few incentives, one of which was getting two total sacks for the season for $250,000 or four sacks for $500,000.
Johnson had just one sack this season after signing with Jacksonville in August. The 10-year veteran journeyman recorded that sack in Week 13 – bringing down Cam Ward in the Jaguars' 25-3 victory against the Titans in Nashville.
Hines-Allen accounted for the other two sacks on Ward in that game. Armstead, who was injured, sat out the Nov. 30 contest.
A second-round draft pick for the Titans in 2016 out of Penn State, Johnson will be a free agent at the end of this season. He signed with Jacksonville after one season with the Buffalo Bills; previously the 6-foot-4, 314-pound d-lineman played for the Los Angeles Chargers and the New York Giants.