The Detroit Lions were always going to commit to Jared Goff for multiple years past the end of his last contract. The four-year, $212 million he got could even be tabbed as a nice bargain, with the quarterback contracts that have followed.
With the launch point of what happened with the New York Jets and Aaron Rodgers last season, with Rodgers tearing his Achilles' four snaps into his first game with the team, ESPN's Kalyn Kahler took a look at teams purchasing insurance for big contracts should said player miss significant time. The Jets did not do so, to secure a portion of the $37 million in guaranteed money Rodgers was owed last season.
Per Kahler, the Collective Bargaining Agreement even has a loophole for insurance proceeds. A former club executive labeled it as "one of the few ways to buy cap space."
"The CBA labels insurance proceeds as a "refund from the player," which qualifies the amount as a cap credit for the club for the following season. In the simplest terms, if a player who eats up a significant portion of a club's salary cap misses significant time with injury or illness, a club doesn't have to take it as a total loss, but can recover space for the following year. Plus, insurance premium payments don't count against the salary cap."
Did the Lions make a mistake with small detail of Jared Goff's contract?
Kahler had this note in her piece.
"Thirteen of the top 14 quarterback deals in total value are insured for a portion of their contract value, with the Lions' Jared Goff the lone exception in that group."
Putting it simply, Goff's contract does not have an insurance addendum. So if the team purchased insurance outside of the contract, any claim would not count as cap relief. Insurance was reportedly discussed when negotiations were going on this spring, but the Lions ultimately didn't do it.
Other quarterback contracts that aren't insured, leaving aside rookie contracts, are mostly from teams that don't have a definitive multi-year answer at quarterback (the Buccaneers and Baker Mayfield stand out as an exception). The Lions have defined their situation by committing to Goff like they did.
The Lions not covering Goff's contract with insurance, to potentially recoup some money, is only a thing if he misses significant time. If he's healthy, as he has generally been throughout his career, it won't be a problem. Time will tell if not following the trend of buying insurance to help cover a big contract is a mistake, but it might be nice to have protected themselves by doing it.