A year ago, Jared Goff's cap hit ranked outside the top 75 players in the NFL. This year, it will rank inside the top five.
Thanks to a contract restructure last offseason, Goff is slated to have a $31.5 million cap hit in 2022, fourth highest among active cap hits after Tennessee's Ryan Tannehill ($38.6 million), Kansas City's Patrick Mahomes ($35.8 million) and Minnesota's Kirk Cousins ($31.4 million).
Factoring in Matt Ryan's dead cap hit of $40.5 million in Atlanta, Goff comes in at No. 5 overall, one spot ahead of reigning Defensive Player of the Year T.J. Watt ($31.12 million) and three spots ahead of two-time defending MVP Aaron Rodgers ($28.5 million).
The Lions inherited Goff's four-year, $134 million deal from the Rams last offseason and knocked his cap hit down from $25 million to $10 million in 2021 by converting a large chunk of his salary into a signing bonus. In doing so, they increased his cap hit by $5 million each of the three seasons to come and doubled his dead cap hit in 2022, ensuring a longer-term stay in Detroit.
The Lions can't feasibly move on from Goff, if they so choose, until 2023 when his dead cap hit falls to $10 million (and to $5 million in 2024). For now, the club is committed to the quarterback who has a sub-90.0 passer rating over the last three seasons, though he did excel down the stretch in 2021. And Goff is committed to the Lions, even amid the specter of Detroit drafting his successor this year or next.
"I'm happy to be here as long as I am, and I'll continue to be the best I can be," Goff said at the end of last season. "If it is here for the next 10 years, fantastic. But I'm going to keep playing the best I can, and be the best player I can this offseason moving into next year."
Related
Goff, by the way, isn't among the NFL's top five money-makers this season. Not even close, in fact. The leader is former Lions QB Matthew Stafford, who will rake in $61.5 million in cash after signing a $160 million extension with the Rams. Buffalo's Josh Allen ($47 million), Cleveland's Deshaun Watson ($46 million), Rodgers ($42 million) and Cousins ($40 million) round out the top five. Goff ranks 12th at $26.15 million.
Goff isn't among the league's five highest-paid players in average annual salary, either. The leader in that department is Rodgers ($50 million) on the heels of his $150 million extension with the Packers, followed by Watson, Mahomes, Allen and Stafford and Dallas' Dak Prescott. Goff ranks ninth at $33.5 million.
But Goff will cost the Lions in a big way against the cap this year (and next year, and the year after that), and the Lions will hope his play warrants it.