Daniels, Sitton earn raises for next season

Mike Daniels' playing time over his first three NFL seasons has earned the Green Bay Packers defensive lineman a pay raise for 2015.

Daniels hit an escalator in his rookie contract that bumped his salary for next season from $660,000 to $1.574 million, according to the NFLPA salary database. He made $570,000 last season.

Left guard Josh Sitton also hit a clause in his contract that bumped his 2015 base salary by $250,000 for being voted into the Pro Bowl. He'll now make $5.1 million instead of $4.85 million.

Daniels' salary hike stems from the rookie wage scale that was added in 2011 to the collective bargaining agreement that allows players drafted from the third to seventh rounds to earn a proven performance escalator if they meet the guidelines.

Daniels, a fourth-round pick in 2012, was eligible because he played at least 35 percent of the defensive snaps in two of his first three seasons. He played roughly 20 percent of snaps as a rookie, but qualified after playing more than 48 percent in 2013 and more than 60 percent last season.

Daniels was the Packers' only third-year player eligible for the escalator.

In the 2012 draft, the Packers traded their third-round pick to New England to help acquire the second-round pick they used to draft cornerback Casey Hayward. They've parted ways with the rest of their late-round selections — safety Jerron McMillian (fourth), linebacker Terrell Manning (fifth), tackle Andrew Datko (seventh) and quarterback B.J. Coleman (seventh).

Daniels' 683 snaps led the defensive line and saw him register a career-high 41 tackles with 51/2 sacks. He has 76 career tackles and 14 sacks in his first three NFL seasons. He became eligible for a contract extension when the 2014 regular season ended.

Press conferences postponed

The Packers were scheduled to conduct their season-ending news conferences Wednesday, but they were postponed because of a serious, undisclosed personal matter on the coaching staff.

Packers coach Mike McCarthy was scheduled to meet with reporters one last time before the offseason starts. Defensive coordinator Dom Capers, offensive coordinator Tom Clements and special teams coordinator Shawn Slocum, and their assistant coaches, also were going to take questions.

It was not announced when the Packers will hold their season-ending news conferences.

— Ryan Wood contributed to this report

— whodkiew@pressgazettemedia.com and follow him on Twitter @WesHod.