4 moves the Detroit Lions can make to clear $40 million in salary cap space

1. Extend Jared Goff

It's only a matter of timing regarding Goff getting a contract extension from the Lions this offseason, as he enters the final year of his current deal. The questions about it are the length, and the average per year in new money. And even the latter is pretty much set by the market, at $40-$50 million a year. Both sides want to stay together, and are better with each other than without (especially in Goff's case).

Brad Holmes once said, to paraphrase, that it's easier to get worse at quarterback than it is to get better. That serves as another endorsement of Goff.

It's just a matter of getting a deal done, and it should not linger too long into the offseason.

It's not a revelation to see that Goff has the highest current cap hit for the Lions in 2024-$32.3 million. A multi-year extension would naturally be structured to spread out his $22.3 million base salary for this year, and any new signing bonus would be added to the current $5 million proration for this year and prorated over the total length of his contract (including 2024). A void year also seems likely, to further spread the signing bonus proration out.

Down to the brass tacks of it, a contract extension for Goff could clear $20,872,051 in cap space. And that is a foregone conclusion to happen.

2024 potential cap space added with all four of these moves: $40,964,051