The law is described incorrectly. They wrote (my emphasis):
The money was granted through the Wrongful Imprisonment Compensation Act, a state law passed in 2016 that grants a wrongfully convicted person $50,000 for each day that person was incarcerated.
But when you click on the link you find:
the court shall award compensation as follows: (a) Fifty thousand dollars for each year from the date the plaintiff was imprisoned until the date the plaintiff was released from prison, regardless of whether the plaintiff was released from imprisonment on parole or because the maximum sentence was served. For incarceration of less than a year in prison, this amount is prorated to 1/365 of $50,000.00 for every day the plaintiff
So by Michigan law he was entitled to $50K/yr, which is less than provided by Texas law ($80K/yr + other benefits).
And of course $50K/yr over 36 years is roughly the $1.75 million he received. If it were actually per day, he would have gotten over $600 million.