How Jared Goff Impacts the Detroit Lions' Salary Cap

Read more on how Jared Goff's contract impacts the Detroit Lions' salary cap.

The Matthew Stafford-Jared Goff trade between the Detroit Lions and the Los Angeles Rams becomes official on March 17, the official start of the new league year. 

As of February 21, Detroit has 53 players on the roster at a cost of $185.2 million. 

Goff carries with him a cap number of $28.15 million for the 2021 season -- which represents an additional $14.15 million in cap charges Detroit is responsible for. 

In order to begin to come down from its $199.35 million cap number, Detroit can cut costly veterans, and can also restructure contracts to spread out players' cap hits over the length of their respective contracts. 

According to The Detroit News, "Goff's base salary for 2021 is $25.3 million. For easy illustration, let's say the Lions opted to converted $20 million of that amount to a bonus, which would spread it out as a $5 million cap hit each of the next four seasons, lowering the quarterback's 2021 hit $15 million."

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A league memo released last week explained that the 2021 salary-cap floor has been set at $180 million. 

The memo read, 

"Following discussions with the union that addressed both actual 2020 revenues and projected attendance for the 2021 season, we have agreed to increase the minimum Salary cap for the 2021 League Year to $180 million.

"This is not the final Salary Cap for the 2021 League Year, which will be set following review of final 2020 revenue figures and other audit and accounting adjustments."

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3 Players Detroit Lions Should Avoid in Free Agency

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Lions 3-Round Mock Draft: Improving the Defense

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