As soon as Lawrence has joined Blockfolio they mut 24 madden coins announced their endorsement deal via the form of a press release. The press release referred to the amount they paid Lawrence as a "signing bonus," most likely to be a method of sounding more athletic. 

They also stated that they were depositing the reward into one of their crypto wallets for the QB."This collaboration is the first endorsement deal ever in which a substantial signing bonus is paid completely in cryptocurrency. The bonus was put directly into the player's Blockfolio account and included Bitcoin, Ethereum and Solana."

There's nothing called a "signing bonus" when it comes to an endorsement contract. It's just the endorsement contract. You sign the deal and then you're paid -- or in Lawrence's case you receive crypto. 

While the usage of the word "sports" is relatively harmless the moment you read it, things got a bit more complicated. Following the Blockfolio press announcement, USA Today aggregated the information and this is where the confusion began.

The story coMadden NFL 24 used the term "signing bonus" that was mentioned on the Blockfolio press release. It then was able to combine it with Lawrence's official Madden NFL 24 award offered by Madden 24 coins the Jaguars -- claiming it being $24.1M, and using Spotrac as source. source.