The Detroit Lions interrupted the NFL draft conversation on Wednesday by locking up All-Pro wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown to a massive new contract extension. The deal locks up St. Brown through the 2028 season and includes the biggest amount of guaranteed money for any wide receiver in NFL history.
Per Spotrac, the new contract details show some cap creativity from the Lions. The deal is for $120.01 million over four years at the end of his current contract, which expires after the 2024 season. His salary cap hit for 2024 remains a relatively paltry $4.8 million.
After that, the cap hits escalate quickly thanks to the $77 million in guaranteed money, which includes a $16.6 million signing bonus. Only the prorated part of the signing bonus gets tacked onto the Lions cap in 2024.
The cap hit in the subsequent seasons, from Spotrac:
2025: $13.9M
2026: $33.1M
2027: $28.9M
2028: $41M
As is becoming the norm for the Lions and their contracts, they tacked on one void year to help spread out the cap hit even longer. The 2029 season voids and will cost Detroit $1.7 million in dead cap that year.