Ndamukong Suh, Charles Woodson Earn Million-Dollar Pay Raises

NFL player contracts often have little to do with how a player performs on the field, and much to do with how a team thinks the player will perform on the field at the time the contract is signed.

But in some cases, players who play particularly well have performance-based incentives in their contracts that guarantee them a chance to earn a raise based on their playing time or their statistical performances. Mac's Football Blog has a list of 46 players whose 2011 salaries were altered based on their 2010 performances, and two of the big ones are Lions defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh and Packers cornerback Charles Woodson.

Suh was scheduled to make $405,000 in base salary in 2011, but now he'll make $1.405 million. Considering that Suh was the best rookie in the NFL in 2010, a base salary of $1.405 million would be a bargain -- except that highly drafted rookies like Suh make most of their money in bonuses, not base salary.

Still, in a league where Top 5 picks are guaranteed tens of millions of dollars before they step on the field, Suh looks like he'll be in the minority of Top 5 picks who actually turn out to be worth it.

Woodson was slated to make $6.5 million and will instead make $7.85 million in 2011. Woodson has been one of the highest-paid cornerbacks in the NFL throughout his career, but, like Suh, he's worth the money as one of the best defensive players in the league.

Suh and Woodson are two players getting million-dollar raises who are worth the money, and more.