Week 18 settles playoff field and draft order but also served as the last chance to reach bonuses

DENVER (AP) — It's not about the money until it is.

The final weekend of the NFL regular season brought the usual intrigue over which teams would clinch the final playoff spots — the Buccaneers and Broncos — and who would get the No. 1 overall draft pick — the Titans — presumably to choose between Colorado QB Shedeur Sanders and his teammate, Heisman Trophy-winning, two-way star Travis Hunter, in the NFL draft in Green Bay.

Then, there were the smattering of money-packed milestones for some players who were within reach of lucrative contract incentives in Week 18.

Tampa Bay receiver Mike Evans had the most at stake. He needed five catches totaling 85 yards for an extra $3 million, which is one reason Baker Mayfield didn't just take a knee when the Bucs got the ball back with 36 seconds left up 27-19 on the Saints with Evans sitting at eight receptions for 80 yards.

That put his season total at 995 yards, threatening to end his streak of 10 consecutive 1,000-yard seasons.

So, Mayfield threw to Evans, whose 9-yard reception on the final play of the game allowed him to surpass the 1,000-yard mark for the 11th straight season, tying Jerry Rice for the most ever in the NFL and setting off a wild celebration by teammates glad he got a piece of history and that big bonus.

Seattle quarterback Geno Smith needed 185 yards passing against the Rams on Sunday to claim a $2 million bonus and he threw for 223 yards and four touchdowns in Seattle's 30-25 victory.

And Buffalo pass rusher Von Miller's sack of Drake Maye on Sunday was his sixth of the year, good for a $1.5 million bonus.

Baltimore running back Derrick Henry needed one touchdown against Cleveland to earn a $500,000 bonus and he scored twice in the final seven minutes of the Ravens' 35-10 rout of the Browns.

Denver wide receiver Courtland Sutton needed 82 yards receiving against Kansas City for a $500,000 bonus and he got 98 yards on five catches in the Broncos' 38-0 whitewash of the Chiefs' backups.

“Today, with you know, trying to keep track of some of those bonuses, those are good problems,” coach Sean Payton said after leading the Broncos into the playoffs in his second season in Denver. “It's hard to keep track of yards, catches are easy. Sutton needed 82 yards.”

In that game, three-time All-Pro wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins, who was acquired by the Chiefs in a midseason trade with Tennessee, had $1 million worth of bonuses that would have been triggered by catching nine passes ($250,000), for 140 yards ($250,000) and a touchdown ($500,000).

“We want the guys to be able to reach them if they’re reachable,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said last week.

But Reid decided it was better to hold Hopkins out along with the other starters so they could rest up for the playoffs.

Among others who fell short were Cardinals QB Kyler Murray, who threw four TD passes in leading Arizona over the 49ers 47-24 but he needed to run for 50 yards and a touchdown for a $750,000 bonus. He ran for 22 yards and no TDs.

Commanders tight end Zach Ertz stood to earn an extra $250,000 each for reaching 90 yards receiving and two TD catches Sunday and had 44 yards and one TD catch in Washington's 23-19 win over the Cowboys.

Payton recalled when Emmanuel Sanders approached him on the eve of the season finale when they were both in New Orleans.

“When Emmanuel Sanders needed six or seven catches in New Orleans, he came up to me and I said, ‘Look, I already know why you’re here,’ I said, ‘You’ll have six catches before the end of the first quarter, but you’re staying in the game,’ and I think he had like, nine or 10 catches,” Payton said. "But yards are different, some of those things are different, and I want all of them to realize all those things they earned.”

More than securing his bonus, Sutton was elated to clinch his first trip to the playoffs in his seven-year career in Denver.

“Through those dark times, through those seasons where we were playing the last three, four games of the season without playoff contention, those are those times where you have to lean on faith,” Sutton said. “You have to understand that the picture is going to get bigger and better in the long haul. You just have to continue to have that faith that it’s going to get there.”

That bonus was, well, a bonus.

Behind the Call analyzes the biggest topics in the NFL during the season.

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Denver Broncos wide receiver Courtland Sutton (14) celebrates after catching a pass during the first half of an NFL football game against the Kansas City Chiefs Sunday, Jan. 5, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo/Geneva Heffernan)

New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye (10) is pressured by Buffalo Bills linebacker Von Miller (40) during the first half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Jan. 5, 2025, in Foxborough, Mass. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

Seattle Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith (7) prepares to pass during the first half of an NFL football game against the Los Angeles Rams, Sunday, Jan. 5, 2025, in Inglewood, Calif. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Mike Evans (13) is tackled by New Orleans Saints cornerback Kool-Aid McKinstry (14), safety Tyrann Mathieu (32) and cornerback Will Harris (5) during the first half of an NFL football game Sunday, Jan. 5, 2025, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration asked a federal appeals court on Tuesday to block a plea agreement for accused 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed that would spare him the risk of the death penalty in one of the deadliest attacks ever on the United States.

The Justice Department argued in a brief filed with a federal appeals court in the District of Columbia that the government would be irreparably harmed if the guilty pleas were accepted for Mohammed and two co-defendants in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

It said the government would be denied a chance for a public trial and the opportunity to “seek capital punishment against three men charged with a heinous act of mass murder that caused the death of thousands of people and shocked the nation and the world.”

The Defense Department negotiated the plea deal but later repudiated it. Attorneys for the defendants argue it was legally negotiated and should stand.

Tuesday's appeal comes as family members of some the nearly 3,000 people killed in the al-Qaida attacks already were gathered at the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to hear Mohammed's scheduled guilty plea Friday. The other two men, accused of lesser roles in 9/11, were due to enter them next week.

Family members have been split on the deal, with some calling it the best resolution possible for a prosecution mired for more than a decade in pretrial hearings and legal and logistical difficulties. Others demanded a trial and — they hoped — execution.

Some legal experts have warned that the legal challenges posed by the case, including the men’s torture under CIA custody after their capture, could keep the aging detainees from ever facing verdicts and any possible sentences.

Military prosecutors this summer notified families of the victims that the senior Pentagon official overseeing Guantanamo had approved a plea deal after more than two years of negotiations. The deal was “the best path to finality and justice,” military prosecutors said.

But some family members and Republican lawmakers condemned the deal and the Biden administration for reaching it.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has fought unsuccessfully since August to throw out the agreement, saying that a decision on death penalties in an attack as grave as the Sept. 11 plot should only be made by the defense secretary.

A military judge at Guantanamo and a military appeals panel rejected those efforts, saying he had no power to throw out the agreement after it had been approved by the senior Pentagon official for Guantanamo.

Defense attorneys say the plea agreement was approved by Austin's own officials and military prosecutors and that his intervention was unlawful political interference in the justice system.

The Justice Department brief Tuesday said the defendants would not be harmed by a short delay, given that the prosecution has been ongoing since 2012 and the plea agreements would likely result in them serving long prison sentences, potentially for the rest of their lives.

"A short delay to allow this Court to weigh the merits of the government’s request in this momentous case will not materially harm the respondents,” the government argued.

The Justice Department criticized the military commission judge for a ruling that it said “improperly curtailed” the defense secretary’s authority in a “case of unique national importance.” Preserving that authority "is a matter of critical importance warranting the issuance of extraordinary relief,” the government’s filing said.

FILE - This Monday, Dec. 8, 2008 courtroom drawing by artist Janet Hamlin and reviewed by the U.S. military, shows Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, center, and co-defendant Walid Bin Attash, left, attending a pre-trial session at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba. (AP Photo/Janet Hamlin, Pool, File)