5 updated moves the Lions can make to clear over $46 million in cap space before free agency
3. Extend Jared Goff to free up $20.8 million
No news on that front to this point has some Lions' fans getting nervous, but make no mistake a contract extension for Goff is coming sometime this offseason. It's going to come down to length, the new money, the per year average, etc. If we're still here in July with no deal done and no reports pointing toward it coming, then it'll be time to get genuinely concerned.
The two sides want to stay together, and are better with each other right now than without. And it's a rare quarterback who feels locked into his starting job that goes into the final year of his current contract without an extension.
Goff of course has the highest cap hit on the Lions' balance sheet for 2024 ($32.3 million). A contract extension to keep in Detroit for a few more years, with all the mechanics of it, would automatically drop that number-possibly a lot.
Spotrac's recent extension projection for Goff was four years, $180 million, with $86.5 million guaranteed at signing and $146.5 million practically guaranteed. The projected deal dropped Goff's 2024 cap hit to $15.5 million.
Going back to Over The Cap, an extension for Goff would clear $20,872,051 in cap space. The move would be higher on this pre-free agency list if it felt like it would be done before free agency starts. But it could be....