5 highest-paid Detroit Lions players going into 2024

The Detroit Lions are in a very enviable position. They are a good team, coming off a run to the NFC Championship Game, with cap room this year and moving forward. As their young stars graduate into second contracts that situation will change, but Brad Holmes will surely keep the pipeline of young, cheaper talent full via the draft.

A year from now, this kind of list for the Lions will look different due to contracts given to wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown, offensive tackle Penei Sewell and quarterback Jared Goff this offseason. A year from then, the same list is in line to be reshuffled some again.

But here and now, via cap numbers courtesy of Spotrac, here are the five highest-paid Lions in 2024.

5 highest-paid Detroit Lions players going into the 2024 season

5. OT Penei Sewell

Cap Hit: $8.167 million
Cap Percentage: 3.2 percent

The big contract Sewell got this offseason will still be reasonable for the Lions in 2025 ($9.54 million cap hit), as his fifth-year option was rolled into the new deal. After that the numbers rise, in correlation with Sewell's place as a long-term building block and as one of the best offensive tackles in the NFL until further notice.

The fifth-highest cap hit on the Lions balance sheet might be as low as Sewell is on this list for quite awhile...well, maybe after next year.

4. DE Aidan Hutchinson

Cap Hit: $9.74 million
Cap Percentage: 3.81 percent

Hutchinson has been fantastic for the Lions over his two seasons so far. In due time, he will get a big contract to make him one of the highest-paid edge rushers in the NFL. Picking up his fifth-year option next offseason will be a no-brainer, but it wouldn't be surprising if the Lions handle the situation similarly to what they did with Sewell-essentially roll that fifth-year option into a new multi-year deal.

In any case, Hutchinson will also be much higher on this list at some point down the road.

3. C Frank Ragnow

Cap Hit: $12.8 million
Cap Percentage: 5.01 percent

Ragnow is one of the best centers in the NFL, or arguably the best considering how he performed amid a myriad of injuries last season (Pro Football Focus' top-graded center, Second Team All-Pro). The literal center, and pulse, of the best offensive line in the league is paid like it.

2. OT Taylor Decker

Cap Hit: $19.1 million
Cap Percentage: 7.48 percent

it's important to note that Decker is entering the last year of his contract. An extension, should it be done, will naturally drop his $19.1 million cap hit for this year. And it should get done. Decker has made it clear he wants to be a "Lion for life", he's still playing very well at nearly 30 years old and the Lions' don't have a clear succession plan right now.

Decker should spend a couple more years in a Lions' uniform after this year. But until that extension is done, there will be some question about his future.

1. QB Jared Goff

Cap Hit: $27.21 million
Cap Percentage: 10.65 percent

Goff's own big contract this offseason dropped his 2024 cap hit a bit, from its original $32.3 million as he had entered the final year of his old contract. But he maintains his top spot among Lions' cap hits, and he'll be there for the next few years; typical for a quarterback who's not on a rookie deal.