MINNEAPOLIS -- The Minnesota Vikings thought defensive tackle Shamar Stephen could be a coup for their defense when they picked him 220th overall in 2014. And in the final year of his rookie contract, Stephen will get a big bump in his base salary.

The former seventh-rounder qualified for a $1 million raise in 2017 under the NFL's "proven performance escalator" program, which rewards players taken in the third through seventh rounds who played at least 35 percent of their team's snaps in two of their first three seasons. According to NFLPA salary data, Stephen will earn a base salary of $1.838 million in 2017, up from his originally scheduled base salary of $690,000.

Stephen is the only player from the Vikings' 2014 draft class to reach the escalator; running back Jerick McKinnon fell just short of the 35-percent threshold as a rookie and didn't play enough in his second year to put himself in position to capitalize on a larger role in 2016. Stephen, though, benefited from injuries to Sharrif Floyd, playing 37 percent of the Vikings' defensive snaps as a rookie and returning from a knee injury to play 53 percent of the team's defensive snaps in 2016.

Stephen's 2017 base salary remains non-guaranteed, so he would have to be on the Vikings' opening-day roster to qualify for the larger salary.