Motown Bombers

Well this doesn't make any sense since Rodgers was drafted while Stafford was still in high school and Jon Kitna was on the Bengals at the time. When Goff was drafted, that a year before Stafford signed his extension. Think of the cap savings!

Brad Holmes was in the room that drafted Goff and the guy that drafted Mahomes drafted Baker Mayfield. Ligthning doesn't strike twice and the grass isn't always greener.

Once upon a time the Lions could have drafted Goff and played him on a rookie contract instead of extending Stafford.

Everybody thinks they are going to draft the next Mahomes.

Honestly, the Geno Smith contract doesn't seem that bad. It was a tough situation because you don't just want him to walk. It seems like Seattle tied themselves to Geno for two years at roughly the rate of the franchise tag. If he's the real deal, you have him for three years, if not, you're only committed to two years and Seattle is in good shape cap wise. Without knowing the specifics, I actually like the deal. I think the risk was worth taking. On a side note, I'm just surprised Pete Carrol didn't get more consideration for coach of the year. Making a star out of Geno Smith and getting to the playoffs when you were expected to be terrible, I think he should have got as much consideration as Daboll.

A lot of people suggested (not just on this forum) drafting a QB because of the cap savings. That's what started this whole thing about having to pay Goff $40+ million. It would be stupid to draft a QB for cap space. It would be same old Lions to draft a QB because you don't want to pay your QB. Like I've said, you get a temporary cap savings in years where the Lions have a ton of cap space. You still have to sign the rookie QB if he is good. I'm assuming we want the Lions to draft a good QB.

No it doesn't. You also have the option of not drafting a QB. If you do not draft a QB, you can save cap space in year one by restructuring Goff. If you do draft a QB, you basically take that option off the table and end up with more cap space tied to a QB in year one. Years 2-4, when the Lions have tons of cap space, you would most likely save cap space with a rookie QB. You get temporary cap relief at a time the Lions don't need it.

It's off the table if you draft a QB. Perhaps you should read the rest of the post. Retructuring Goff would save cap space in 2023 but it would commit you to Goff for two years. I'm assuming if you to draft a QB for cap savings over Goff you want to move on as soon as possible.

Wait, doesn't Seattle need a backup QB? They can draft a QB to sit behind Smith and save cap space. Weird how Seattle doesn't need to think about drafting a QB when they signed a 32 year old with only one good year in his entire career.

I mean, you can use the same creativity with Goff.

It would only help in cap space for a stretch of three years. This is assuming they keep Goff in year one. Then years two through four, assuming no extension, you will save. If the QB is good, you will want to sign him after year three. Lots of good players sign their extensions after year three. I expect Sewell and St Brown to be signing extensions at this time next year. Goff signed his extension with the Rams after year three. Same with Josh Allen. Even if you don't, the 5th year option on a 1st round QB is not cheap. The highest tier is $29 million. In 5 years that would likely be in the low 30's. The Lions have the 6th most projected cap space in 2025 right now. They have that because they haven't given out multi year contracts. The only players under contract in 2025 right now are their 2022 draft class plus Ragnow. The Bears have a ton of money and if they start dishing out contracts, their cap space in 2025 is going to go down fast. The Lions have no bad contracts right now that will affect cap in the future. The Lions simply don't need future cap space. They have plenty to sign a QB like Goff and sign their young stars.

Not as bad as I thought would be.

The Lions will need to sign those players but Holmes has done such a good job of not locking into free agents. The Lions as of right have a projected $236 million in cap space in 2025 and $122 million next year. They have $122 million in cap space next year and that includes Goff. They are in great shape cap wise. I mean, why not draft a tackle and WR for cap savings instead of signing them to large contracts? I only said Goff would be cheaper in 2023 because you can restructure him. Once I again, I said the cap relief is temporary and the Lions don't need temporary cap relief. It is a stupid reason to draft a QB.

In 2023 their cap hit in QBs could be roughly $18 million if you restructure Goff. That would be off the table since that would commit you to Goff for two years. There is a $5 million cap hit in 2024 to trade Goff. Year three, or 2025, is when players are eligible to sign extensions. If the new QB is good, you would need to resign him there and his salary in year four would go up. Your cap savings are really for two seasons and you lose potential cap savings in year one. You don't need to sign the QB to an extension but then you run into a Lamar Jackson situation. On top of that, the Lions are in fantastic shape cap wise in the future so they don't even need the future cap space. It's such a dumb reason to draft a QB.

Zach Wilson his first year had a cap hit of $6 million so a QB taken 6th this year would be in that ballpark so about $36-37 million in QBs for 2023. You can restructure Goff and save $12 million or so this year so your cap hit at QB in 2023 would be significantly higher because a restructure is off the table. If you sign Goff to an extension it can be structured in different ways. If the drafted QB is good, you only get temporarily cap relief and you can still get temporary cap relief by restructuring Goff. The Lions are in such good shape cap wise in the future that they don't need cap help anyways.

Year three is when drafted players are eligible for extensions. If the QB is good, you will want to lock them up to an extension. I suppose you could go the Lamar Jackson route and basically have a standoff. Not sure the Lions want to be known as the team that's too cheap to pay their star QBs. Goff is under contract for two more years. If you are drafting QB for cap reasons, you better cut or trade him after a year. You can't restructure him since you would be stuck with him for two years so you lose potential cap space in year one because you would have to absorb the full cap hit in 2023 plus the $6-7 million for the rookie QB. They could sign him to an extension now and lower his cap the next two seasons. Given what Carr got and what Daniel Jones may get, probably going to be in the $40 million range. It was just two years ago that Goff's contract was so untradeable that the Rams had to add a 1st round to get rid of him. Now he has a fairly team friendly contract that is pretty tradeable. It will be expense today but in 3-4 years after a couple other QBs sign deals, it won't look as bad. The same thing with Stafford when he signed his extension with Detroit. It was expensive at first and then became team friendly.

The premise was to draft a QB for cap savings. You want have cap savings next year. In fact, your cap situation in year one will be worse if you draft a QB. You'll have to decide then by year 3 if you want to extend the QB. This drafting a QB for cap savings is one of the dumbest things I've heard.

So what happens when the QB you draft is good and you need to sign him to an extension, only prices for QBs are higher than they are now?

1500 yards, 13 TDs, 4.4 YPC he's certainly not done. You're only committed to him for one year in which you project to be a division contender. Goff excels with a strong run game he can play action pass off of. The question is how much more is he than Jamaal Williams and I wouldn't be looking at anything higher than a 3rd round pick. I don't think Holmes would be interested though.

I'm not a hard pass on Henry. He has only one more year left on his contract and was still productive. Would easily fill the Jamaal Williams role. If he's available for a mid round pick, I think I'm in. He was still pretty good last year.

I think he's looking at next year. Thomas has a $59 million cap hit next year. This is his last year in New Orleans. It also sheds light on how the Saints manipulate the cap.

Apparently can't embed tweets anymore.