Unveiling the details of Emmanuel Moseley’s one-year deal with the Detroit Lions

Emmanuel Moseley signed a one-year deal with the Detroit Lions last week, and now we have the finer details of the contract.

After signing Cameron Sutton, the Detroit Lions took another step to refurbishing their cornerback depth chart by signing Emmanuel Moseley. Coming off a torn ACL that cost him a big chunk of last season with the 49ers, it was a reported one-year, $6 million deal.

Of course financial gymnastics, like signing bonus, guarantee structure and void years to prorate the signing bonus, means Moseley’s 2023 salary cap hit was probably not going to be $6 million. Possibly far lower, actually.

On Tuesday morning, Justin Rogers of the Detroit News first reported the details of Moseley’s deal with the Lions. Over The Cap also has the contract details added to the Lions’ 2023 balance sheet.

In short, it’s “up to” a $6 million deal when accounting for everything. Moseley has a $3 million base salary for 2023, according to Over The Cap, with a $1 million per game roster bonus and a $2 million signing bonus.

Over The Cap has it as a $1 million per game roster bonus, while Rogers reported it’s up to $1 million per game. Pride of Detroit’s interpretation had the $1 million as a max total if he plays all 17 games next season.

A void year in 2024 spreads that $2 million cap hit for the signing bonus between 2023 and 2024.

Moseley’s cap number for this year is $4.29 million.

Emmanuel Moseley took prove-it deal with the Lions, if it wasn’t already obvious

If not for coming off a torn ACL, Moseley certainly would have gotten a solid multi-year deal in free agency–perhaps even from the Lions, as they clearly had a focus on overturning their cornerback depth chart. But someone was going to get a potential bargain under the injury-recovery circumstances.

However the $1 million “per game” roster bonus is actually, it’s a way for Moseley to earn more for however many games he’s able to play. Week 1 will be around 11 months since he was injured, so it’s not out of the question he’ll be able to play right when the season starts.

The details of C.J. Moore’s new deal with the Lions are also out (via Over The Cap). It is cut-and-dry as it was reported, $4.5 million max total and $3 million guaranteed ($1.6 million in guaranteed salary, $1.4 million signing bonus).

2023: $1.1 million base salary (all guaranteed), $700,000 prorated signing bonus, $1.8 million cap hit
2023: $1,175 base salary ($500,000 guaranteed), $700 prorated signing bonus, $250,000 roster bonus (due Mar. 17, 2024), $2.7 million cap hit