Lions Sign Second-Round CB Ennis Rakestraw Jr.
Ennis Rakestraw Jr. is on the books for the first time in his NFL career. The Lions announced on Friday that he has inked his rookie contract. 
The hosts of the 2024 NFL draft showed a willingness to double-dip at the cornerback spot with their first two selections. After adding Terrion Arnold on Day 1, the Lions selected Rakestraw at the No. 61 spot. Both players will have a path to signficant playing time in 2024 and beyond if they live up to their potential.
Rakestraw spent four seasons at Missouri, establishing himself as an integral member of the team’s defense over the past two years in particular. Returning from an ACL tear in 2022, he racked up 12 pass deflections and 4.5 tackles for loss. The following season, Rakestraw was limited to nine contests due to core muscle surgery. That injury history no doubt hurt his draft stock, but he was still considered one of the top members of this year’s CB class.
Size was mentioned as a potential concern for the 5-11, 183-pounder in addition to a relative lack of ball production in college. Rakestraw recorded only one interception in 35 games, though he notched 107 total stops (including eight tackles for loss) and 24 pass breakups over that time. He also drew praise for his run defense and overall physicality, something which could help him carve out a role early in with Detroit.
Struggles in the secondary (and in particular at the cornerback spot) were a theme for the Lions last season. That drove the team to acquire Carlton Davis via trade and add Cameron Sutton during free agency. The latter’s arrest for domestic violence resulted in his release, however, and as a result it came as no surprise Detroit focused on further secondary additions during the draft. Arnold was the second corner selected, and he will be positioned to compete for a starting role this offseason. Rakestraw likewise could establish himself as a regular on defense in relatively short order.
With the Rakestraw deal now official, Arnold is the only member of the Lions’ draft class yet to sign his rookie contract. The latter’s pact will be four years in length like all the others, but it will also include a fifth-year option covering the 2028 campaign.
Ben Johnson Addresses Decision To Stay With Lions
For a second straight offseason, Ben Johnson exited the coaching carousel to keep his offensive coordinator post in Detroit. After being viewed as the leader for the Panthers’ HC job in 2023, Johnson had been in position as the frontrunner to replace Ron Rivera with the Commanders.
Shortly after the NFC championship game, Commanders brass received word — while en route to Detroit to interview Johnson and Lions DC Aaron Glenn — the two-year Detroit play-caller was once again bowing out of a coaching pursuit. Johnson is not believed to have received a raise this time around; his Lions deal still runs through 2025. But the selective candidate will undoubtedly gauge the HC openings come 2025.
“I’m not gonna do it just to do it,” Johnson said (via ESPN.com’s Eric Woodyard) of taking a coaching job. “I love what I’m doing right now. Love it. I love where I’m at. My family loves where we’re at. Love the people that we’re doing it with, so I’m not willing to go down the other path yet, unless I feel really good about how it’s gonna unfold.”
Johnson said (via The Athletic’s Colton Pouncy) he is eyeing a job that will allow for success en route to a second contract. Some candidates do not have the luxury of being as selective as Johnson has been, but the Matt Patricia Lions hire has been trending upward — just as the Lions have — in recent years.
As the Lions have climbed into a Super Bowl-contending position, moving closer to the NFL’s biggest stage than they had at any point in franchise history, Johnson has represented a central reason for the team’s ascent. Detroit’s offense has ranked in the top five in points and yardage in each of Johnson’s first two seasons at the controls, and Jared Goff‘s career has turned around to the point he is again back near the top of the QB salary hierarchy.
The Goff-Johnson partnership led to the Lions quarterback signing a four-year, $212MM extension. For at least one more season, Goff will work alongside the coveted assistant. Johnson, 38, will have a chance to impress once again. The young coordinator stepping off the route toward Washington surprised many, and the Commanders — who ended up submitting an offer to Mike Macdonald, ahead of his signing a six-year Seahawks contract — eventually hired Dan Quinn as a second-chance candidate.
It took Josh McDaniels a bit of time to re-emerge as an attractive HC candidate after he backed out of a Colts agreement. Johnson did not go that far down the road with the Commanders and Panthers, but his selective path could conceivably turn teams off. Though, another strong season from the Detroit offense will probably put the next batch of HC-needy teams in pursuit. Offensive play-callers remain the most popular hires in this NFL period.
“The longer you’re in the coordinator chair, it does nothing but help you and prepare you more for the next step if it ever comes down the pipe,” Johnson said. “Personally, I don’t feel like I’m hurting my opportunities or my abilities to be a head coach in the future, and I love what I’m doing right now.”
Lions Looking Into Options At Kicker
Since the departure of Matt Prater following the 2020 NFL season, the Lions have struggled to find constancy at the placekicking position. Twice, Michael Badgley has come to their rescue with admirable results, and though he’s set to return in 2024, that hasn’t stopped Detroit from examining all its options.
Badgley first helped out the Lions in 2022, signing with the team’s practice squad in early-October and getting promoted to the active roster three weeks later. After the team opted to move on from Austin Seibert, Badgley took over the job and didn’t relinquish it. For the rest of the year, Badgley made 20 of his 24 field goal attempts and went a perfect 33-for-33 on extra point attempts. The team re-signed Badgley for the 2023 season but cut him in July.
Instead, the team opted for Riley Patterson last season. In 13 games, Patterson only missed two of 17 field goal attempts, but when the Memphis-product missed two extra point attempts within a three-game stretch, the Lions waived him in favor of Badgley, who had remained on their practice squad all year.
Once again, Badgely gave the Lions what they were looking for. Though, he too missed two extra point attempts in his four regular season games, Badgley was a perfect four-for-four on field goals. During the team’s run to the NFC Championship Game, Badgley was a perfect three-for-three on field goals and 11-for-11 on extra points. Despite this consistency, Badgley was rarely tested in big moments. Throughout the playoffs, head coach Dan Campbell repeatedly opted to go for it in long field goal scenarios.
The only other option currently on the roster is James Turner, an undrafted rookie from Michigan. A grad transfer for the Wolverines after four years at Louisville, Turner showed inconsistent production at the collegiate level. Turner missed eight field goals and two extra points in his sophomore season with the Cardinals. He never made more than 20 field goals in a season and only had a career-long of 50 yards, so he may not be the answer to Campbell’s hesitation from long distance.
The veteran free agent market is relatively bare. With many kickers already signed or re-signed, only Randy Bullock serves as an experienced option. The 34-year-old only appeared in six games for the Giants last year, though.
Another intriguing option in free agency, though, is Michigan Panthers kicker Jake Bates in the UFL. Bates signed with the Texans last year after going undrafted but was waived just prior to the preseason. This wasn’t extremely surprising as Bates didn’t kick any field goals in college. During time at Texas State and Arkansas, Bates was utilized singularly on kickoffs, utilizing leg strength gained in two seasons of college soccer at Central Arkansas. Finding his place in the UFL, though, Bates has taken the football world by storm.
Coming into a game today, Bates’ stats consisted of 15 made field goals out of 18 attempts. While the accuracy is admirable, what’s really impressive is his leg strength. His only three misses have come from over 50 yards, yet he is still six-for-nine from long distance. Of those six makes from 50+, three of those were from 60 yards or further. The young kicker doesn’t shy away from the spotlight either. Two of his makes have been game-winners, including a career-long 64-yarder to open the season. His 64-yard make is second to only Justin Tucker‘s 66-yarder in Detroit’s stadium.
That being said, Bates is still under contract with the Panthers and cannot communicate with NFL teams at the moment nor can his agent. Currently, the Panthers themselves are the only ones who can communicate with any interested parties, given their ownership of his contract.
Still, Bates to Detroit makes a lot of sense. The team has an expressed desire to bring in some competition at kicker and reached out to the Panthers already, and Bates has seen all of this kicking success come in the city of Detroit at Ford Field. Bates could be the long-distance answer that convinces Campbell not to go for it next year.
The Lions may have to wait for the close of the UFL season to acquire Bates but consider them a top candidate to land his services in 2024. If that plays out, Badgely could once again be relegated to a break-glass-in-case-of-emergency role, if he doesn’t find a new home altogether.
The Biggest Wide Receiver Contract In Each Team’s History
Most NFL teams have authorized a big-ticket (by today’s standards) deal for a wide receiver. Ranked by guaranteed money and excluding rookie contracts and accords acquired via trade, here is the most lucrative WR deal in each franchise’s history.
Arizona Cardinals
- DeAndre Hopkins; September 8, 2020: Two years, $54.5MM ($42.75MM guaranteed)
Larry Fitzgerald‘s seven-year, $113MM extension (August 2011) holds the Cardinals standard for total value, but Hopkins’ pact checks in higher in terms of guarantees and AAV.
Atlanta Falcons
- Julio Jones; September 7, 2019. Three years, $66MM ($64MM guaranteed at signing)
Baltimore Ravens
- Odell Beckham Jr.; April 9, 2023: One year, $15MM ($15MM guaranteed at signing)
In total, Michael Crabtree‘s 2018 deal (worth $21MM) and Derrick Mason‘s 2005 agreement ($20MM) surpass Beckham’s. But the 2023 Baltimore rental’s guarantee came in higher.
Buffalo Bills
- Stefon Diggs; April 6, 2022: Four years, $96MM ($70MM guaranteed; $47.99MM guaranteed at signing)
Carolina Panthers
- D.J. Moore; March 18, 2022: Three years, $61.88MM ($41.61MM guaranteed at signing)
Chicago Bears
- D.J. Moore; July 30, 2024: Four years, $110MM ($82.64MM guaranteed; $43.65MM guaranteed at signing)
Cincinnati Bengals
- Ja’Marr Chase: March 16, 2025: Four years, $161MM ($109.8MM guaranteed; $73.9MM guaranteed at signing)
Cleveland Browns
- Jarvis Landry; April 12, 2018: Five years, $75.5MM ($47MM guaranteed; $34MM guaranteed at signing)
The Browns have featured three higher-paid receivers on their roster since Landry’s contract, but both Odell Beckham Jr. and Amari Cooper arrived via trade and played on contracts designed by other teams. Jerry Jeudy‘s AAV ($17.5MM) on his 2024 extension also outpaces Landry’s, though the recent trade pickup’s total guarantee falls short here.
Dallas Cowboys
- CeeDee Lamb; August 26, 2024: Four years, $136MM ($100MM guaranteed; $67MM guaranteed at signing)
Denver Broncos
- Demaryius Thomas; July 15, 2015: Five years, $70MM ($43.5MM guaranteed; $35MM guaranteed at signing)
Courtland Sutton‘s 2025 extension carries a higher AAV ($23MM) but included a lower guarantee
Detroit Lions
- Amon-Ra St. Brown; April 24, 2024: Four years, $120.1MM ($77MM guaranteed; $35.28MM guaranteed at signing)
Green Bay Packers
- Davante Adams; December 29, 2017: Four years, $58MM ($30MM guaranteed; $24MM guaranteed at signing)
Houston Texans
- Nico Collins; May 28, 2024: Three years, $72.75MM ($52MM guaranteed)
DeAndre Hopkins‘ 2017 re-up included more in total value but a lower AAV and guarantee
Indianapolis Colts
- Alec Pierce; March 9, 2026: Four years, $114MM ($84MM guaranteed; $60MM guaranteed at signing)
Jacksonville Jaguars
- Christian Kirk; March 14, 2022: Four years, $72MM ($37MM guaranteed at signing)
Kansas City Chiefs
- Tyreek Hill; September 6, 2019: Three years, $54MM ($35MM guaranteed; $22.54MM guaranteed at signing)
Las Vegas Raiders
- Davante Adams; March 17, 2022: Five years, $140MM ($65.71MM guaranteed; $22.75MM guaranteed at signing)
Los Angeles Chargers
- Keenan Allen; September 5, 2020: Four years, $80.1MM ($50MM guaranteed; $32MM guaranteed at signing)
Los Angeles Rams
- Cooper Kupp; June 8, 2022: Three years, $80.1MM ($75MM guaranteed; $35MM guaranteed at signing)
Miami Dolphins
- Jaylen Waddle; May 30, 2024: Three years, $84.75MM ($76MM guaranteed; $35.98MM guaranteed at signing)
Tyreek Hill‘s 2022 extension tops his ex-teammate for AAV ($30MM), but it came in just south for guarantees ($72.2MM)
Minnesota Vikings
- Justin Jefferson; June 3, 2024: Four years, $140MM ($110MM guaranteed; $89MM guaranteed at signing)
New England Patriots
- Romeo Doubs; March 10, 2026: Four years, $68MM ($39MM guaranteed; $35MM guaranteed at signing)
New Orleans Saints
- Michael Thomas; July 31, 2019: Five years, $96.25MM ($60.6MM guaranteed; $35.65MM guaranteed at signing)
New York Giants
- Odell Beckham Jr.; August 27, 2018: Five years, $90MM ($65MM guaranteed, $40.9MM guaranteed at signing)
New York Jets
- Garrett Wilson; July 14, 2025: Four years, $130MM ($90MM guaranteed)
Philadelphia Eagles
- A.J. Brown; April 25, 2024: Three years, $96MM ($84MM guaranteed; $51MM guaranteed at signing)
Pittsburgh Steelers
- D.K. Metcalf; March 9, 2025: Four years, $132MM ($80MM guaranteed; $60MM guaranteed at signing)
San Francisco 49ers
- Brandon Aiyuk; August 29, 2024: Four years, $120MM ($76MM guaranteed; $38.32MM guaranteed at signing)
Seattle Seahawks
- Jaxon Smith-Njigba; March 23, 2026: Four years, $168.6MM ($120.07MM guaranteed; $69.13MM guaranteed at signing)
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- Mike Evans; March 9, 2018: Five years, $82.5MM ($55MM guaranteed; $38.26MM guaranteed at signing)
Chris Godwin‘s 2025 deal beats Evans’ for at-signing guarantees ($44MM); his 2022 deal did as well. Godwin’s 2025 deal also tops Evans’ in AAV ($22MM). The all-time Bucs receiving leader’s 2024 agreement, however, leads the way in total guarantees.
Tennessee Titans
- Calvin Ridley; March 13, 2024: Four years, $92MM ($50MM guaranteed; $46.98MM guaranteed at signing)
Washington Commanders
- Terry McLaurin; June 28, 2022: Three years, $69.6MM ($53.15MM guaranteed; $34.65MM guaranteed at signing)
McLaurin’s August 2025 extension eclipses his previous pact in AAV and fully guaranteed money ($44.65MM), but his first Washington payday remains the team’s standard for guaranteed money
Minor NFL Transactions: 5/16/24
Here are Thursday’s minor moves:
Baltimore Ravens
- Waived: WR De’Angelo Hardy
Cleveland Browns
- Waived/failed physical: OL Kellen Diesch
Detroit Lions
- Signed: TE Sean McKeon
- Waived: TE Isaac Rex
A former Cowboys UDFA, McKeon spent the past four seasons in Dallas. He worked as a backup to the likes of Dalton Schultz and Jake Ferguson in that span. Used more as a run blocker, McKeon played between 100 and 128 snaps on offense over the past three seasons. The Michigan alum joins a Lions tight end group that includes Sam LaPorta and Brock Wright, the latter drawing a matched RFA offer sheet.
DL Michael Brockers Announces Retirement
Although Michael Brockers landed an offseason workout, he did not end up playing in 2023. The veteran defensive lineman will pass on playing in 2024. Brockers took to Instagram on Thursday to announce he will retire from the NFL after 11 seasons.
Best known for his lengthy Rams tenure, Brockers finished his career with the Lions. Not part of the Jared Goff–Matthew Stafford trade, Brockers ended up joining Goff in relocating to Detroit as part of a separate 2021 swap. The Lions tenure pushed the former first-round pick’s start count to 157 games. Brockers’ NFL exit comes two months after longtime D-line mate Aaron Donald wrapped his storied career.
Brockers, 33, will be best remembered for a seven-year stretch working alongside Donald. The longest-running sidekick of the all-time great DT’s career, Brockers was also regarded as an upper-crust D-lineman for much of his time with the Rams. The LSU alum ended up signing three contracts with the Rams, who valued him alongside Donald. While Brockers was dealt as the team assembled its Super Bowl LVI-winning roster, he played in Super Bowl LIII and was part of three playoff teams after having been part of a lengthy Rams playoff drought.
Midway through that 12-season drought, the Rams hired Jeff Fisher and GM Les Snead. The duo began its St. Louis tenure with an eventful draft. It took multiple trades for the Rams to end up with Brockers in 2012. The team moved down from No. 2 to No. 6, collecting two future first-rounders from Washington in a deal that gave Mike Shanahan‘s team a path to Robert Griffin III, and then slid down (via the Cowboys) from 6 to 14. The Snead-Fisher tandem made a pick there, and Brockers moved into the starting lineup in Week 4 of his rookie year.
Playing in Fisher’s 4-3 scheme during the first half of his Rams career and a 3-4 alignment during the second chapter, Brockers produced 28 of his 29 career sacks during his Rams run. He put together two five-sack seasons (2013, 2020) and notched at least seven tackles for loss in four separate seasons. For his career, Brockers tallied 64 TFLs. He made seven tackles against the Patriots in Super Bowl LIII.
It took extensive time for the post-Greatest Show on Turf Rams to regroup, and it did not happen under Fisher. But the Donald-Brockers partnership certainly worked well to close out the team’s St. Louis stay, and Sean McVay made the pair more relevant in the grand scheme upon arrival in 2017. Brockers became one of the NFL’s top interior run defenders, and the Rams rewarded him with a three-year, $33.25MM deal in 2016. Staying in form long enough to land a third quality contract, Brockers fetched a three-year, $24MM deal from the Rams. This came after a memorable Ravens plot, which involved a Brockers three-year, $30MM agreement being nixed due to concerns about the veteran 3-4 D-end’s health. Brockers managed to play three more NFL seasons.
The Lions reached a reworked deal with Brockers in 2022 and stopped his run of starts midway through that season, making him a healthy scratch during the ’22 slate’s second half. Although Brockers worked out for the Titans last summer, no deal came to pass. He will nevertheless finish his career with $69.8MM in earnings in St. Louis, Los Angeles and Detroit.
Latest On Jared Goff’s Lions Extension
MAY 16: When speaking about his extension – which is now official – Goff noted he received a no-trade clause. He added that the security the clause provides was a major factor in negotiations, and it confirms he will remain in Detroit through the life of the pact. Any change of scenery before then will not be possible without Goff green-lighting a trade.
MAY 15: Jared Goff‘s Lions extension both reflects his surge in value since being the throw-in piece in the Matthew Stafford trade while also illustrating where the quarterback market has gone since the 2016 No. 1 pick’s Rams extension surfaced.
The Lions’ Monday extension made Goff the NFL’s second-highest-paid player — behind only Joe Burrow — and his new $53MM AAV is almost $20MM north of where that number stood when Goff received his Rams payday in September 2019. The Rams gave Goff a $33.5MM-per-year deal that became valuable, as QB deals skyrocketed, over the first three years of his Lions stay. With Goff’s previous contract expiring after the 2024 season, the Lions followed up record-setting extensions for Amon-Ra St. Brown and Penei Sewell by checking off their top offseason priority.
When Goff agreed to terms with the Rams, the $33.5MM AAV number made him the NFL’s second-highest-paid passer (behind Russell Wilson‘s third Seahawks contract). This Lions deal does not feature guarantees that rival Deshaun Watson or even the likes of Burrow, Justin Herbert or Lamar Jackson. But the Lions are committing to Goff for the foreseeable future; his contract displays the team’s confidence.
Guarantees in Goff’s four-year, $212MM extension stretch to 2027, with Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio reporting the contract includes $113.6MM guaranteed at signing. The actual guarantee number will probably check in much higher, as practical guarantees check in at $148.6MM. A rolling guarantee structure akin to what the Chiefs used with Patrick Mahomes is present in this deal.
After two fully guaranteed years (2024-25), the Lions guaranteed $20MM of Goff’s $55MM 2026 base salary. The other $35MM of that salary will become fully guaranteed in 2025, Florio notes. This structure reappears in 2026, to a degree. Goff’s $50MM 2027 base salary features $22MM guaranteed for injury at signing, Florio adds. Of that $22MM, $18MM shifts from an injury guarantee to a full guarantee a year early. The other $4MM becomes guaranteed in 2027. Goff’s 2028 base salary ($39MM) is nonguaranteed; a $7MM roster bonus will be due ahead of Goff’s age-34 season.
Much of Goff’s guarantee will come via a $73MM signing bonus, according to SI.com’s Albert Breer. That figure prorating through 2028 will increase the dead money Detroit would incur by bailing on this deal early. In terms of full guarantees, Goff’s deal ranks fifth — behind Watson, Burrow, Jackson and Herbert — but the guarantee structure will assuredly see the former top pick tied to this contract through at least 2026. Among QBs who signed only a four-year deal, no one has done better in terms of guarantees. The players above Goff in terms of total guarantees each signed five- or six-year extensions.
The 2027 vesting date will become key if the Lions have second thoughts about a player whose value had plummeted in his final Rams years. The Rams sent the Lions an extra first-round pick so they would absorb Goff’s previous contract. As Detroit brass insisted Goff — whom Lions GM Brad Holmes helped draft when he was the Rams’ college scouting director — was not a bridge QB, the team passed on adding a passer early in the 2021 and ’22 drafts. This extension effectively ensures 2023 third-rounder Hendon Hooker, whose rookie deal runs through 2026, will not have a viable path to a starting job in Michigan.
Despite Goff’s struggles between Super Bowl LIII through a 3-13-1 2021 Lions season, the NFC North franchise will trust the form the resurgent QB has shown in his late 20s under OC Ben Johnson will continue if/when the promising play-caller departs for a head coaching job. For now, Goff and Johnson will continue to work together — and the QB will do so armed with a much better contract.
Lions To Add Tom Roth, Raiders’ Dwayne Joseph To Staff
Despite multiple changes atop the Raiders‘ front office, Dwayne Joseph stayed with the team in recent years. Brought in during Mike Mayock‘s GM tenure, Joseph lasted through Dave Ziegler‘s short run in charge. But the veteran exec is now moving on.
In place as the Raiders’ director of pro personnel, Joseph will not make it far past Tom Telesco‘s first draft as the team’s GM. Joseph recently left the Raiders for a Lions position, per the Las Vegas Review-Journal’s Vincent Bonsignore. The Lions are also hiring former Titans area scout Tom Roth, according to InsidetheLeague.com’s Neil Stratton.
The Raiders hired Joseph shortly after the 2019 draft, bringing him over after an Eagles tenure. As retooling continues in Las Vegas, the Raiders will separate from a staffer who held the same position under Mayock and Ziegler. Prior to following Mayock to Oakland, Joseph spent four years as the Eagles’ pro scouting director. Joseph collected a Super Bowl ring for his efforts under Howie Roseman in the 2010s.
Joseph, 51, played one season in the NFL, seeing action in 16 games with the 1995 Bears, after a career at Syracuse. He interviewed for the Raiders’ GM job in 2022; despite that position going to Ziegler, the Raiders kept Joseph on. The Raiders decided on Telesco over Champ Kelly for GM. While Mark Davis wanted Kelly to remain with the team as assistant GM, Joseph will end up departing in the wake of the Telesco hire.
Telesco brought over former Chargers interim GM JoJo Wooden as his senior director of player personnel. Although Wooden and Joseph overlapped as Syracuse defensive teammates under Paul Pasqualoni for multiple seasons in the early 1990s, the duo will separate shortly after Wooden’s Vegas arrival.
The Titans, who are retooling their scouting department in second-year GM Ran Carthon‘s second offseason, parted ways with Roth earlier this month. Roth was with the Titans for six years, coming to Tennessee during Jon Robinson‘s GM tenure. He spent the previous 14 years with the Bills. Roth and Joseph will join a Lions front office that lost longtime senior player personnel director Lance Newmark (to the Commanders) earlier this offseason. Joseph and Roth’s Detroit titles are not yet known.
Lions, Jared Goff Agree To Extension
Jared Goff has become the latest Lion to secure a monster extension. Detroit’s franchise quarterback has agreed to terms on a four-year, $212MM pact, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports. 
Schefter adds this pact includes $170MM in guaranteed money, an enormous up-front investment on the team’s part. Goff is now the highest-paid player in Lions history. The former Rams No. 1 pick has enjoyed a career resurrection in Detroit, and his tenure there will now continue for the foreseeable future. This contract runs through 2027 with an option for the following season, per Tom Pelissero of NFL Network.
This agreement carries an annual average value of $53MM, which slots Goff into second in the NFL in that regard. Only Joe Burrow‘s Bengals extension is more lucrative in terms of AAV ($55MM). Goff will now join Burrow, Justin Herbert, Lamar Jackson and Jalen Hurts as members of the $50MM-per-year club. Considering his age, that marks a notable development to say the least.
Goff will turn 30 in October, making him an outlier compared to the four aforementioned passers, each of whom signed their mega-pacts as second NFL contracts. This will be Goff’s third pact, as 2024 marks the final season of the four-year, $134MM Rams deal he inked in 2019. Given the eruption in the top of the QB market and the surges the salary cap has experienced since, it comes as little surprise Goff has managed to secure a much larger investment this time around.
The turning point of his career, of course, is the blockbuster trade which sent him from Los Angeles to Detroit. The Rams paid a massive price to offload Goff’s pact and take on Matthew Stafford in return. The latter has since helped the team win a Super Bowl, but Goff has delivered strong showings of his own during his three years in the Motor City.
The Cal product posted a 29:7 touchdown-to-interception in 2022, earning a Pro Bowl nod along the way. While the Lions fell short of a playoff berth that season, Goff did enough to put himself on the extension radar. Over the course of this past season, he racked up 30 touchdowns and 4,575 yards (although his INT total rose to 12 and he lost four fumbles). With Detroit winning the NFC North and reaching the conference title game, Goff was one of several extension priorities on the offensive side of the ball.
Wideout Amon-Ra St. Brown and right tackle Penei Sewell both agreed to monster deals of their own recently. The former (briefly) took the top spot in terms of AAV amongst receivers on a deal averaging just over $30MM per season. The latter, meanwhile, inked the largest deal ever given to a left or right tackle($28MM per year). Given the QB position’s value, a Goff deal of any kind would have checked in at a much higher rate, which helps explain the gap between the St. Brown and Sewell deals being finalized and today’s news.
Lions GM Brad Holmes recently admitted the Goff deal would have ideally been in place earlier, but he echoed his confidence that an agreement would be reached soon. Obviously, that sentiment has proven to be accurate. Detroit drafted Hendon Hooker as a potential successor to Goff last season, but it will take an injury for him to see the field any time soon.
With a well-regarded O-line and a skill-position group which was augmented by rookies Jahmyr Gibbs and Sam LaPorta last season, expectations will remain high for the Lions on offense moving forward. Goff will remain a key member of the unit for years to come as the team aims to duplicate the success of 2023.
Minor NFL Transactions: 5/13/24
Today’s minor moves:
Atlanta Falcons
- Signed: TE Ross Dwelley
Carolina Panthers
- Signed: LB Cam Gill, DL T.J. Smith
Chicago Bears
- Signed: WR John Jackson, DT Dashaun Mallory, LB Paul Moala, WR Freddie Swain
Detroit Lions
- Signed: WR Kaden Davis, TE Parker Hesse
Green Bay Packers
- Claimed off waivers (from 49ers): DL Spencer Waege
- Placed on reserve/retired list: OL Trente Jones
Kansas City Chiefs
- Re-signed: LB Cole Christiansen
- Released: DT Matt Dickerson
Los Angeles Chargers
- Signed: DL Chris Collins
Miami Dolphins
- Signed: OL Ireland Brown, CB Jason Maitre
Minnesota Vikings
- Signed: TE Sammis Reyes
New England Patriots
- Signed: RB Terrell Jennings, G Ryan Johnson, LB Jay Person, DE Jotham Russell
- Waived: RB Ke’Shawn Vaughn
New Orleans Saints
- Signed: DT Kendal Vickers
- Waived: NT John Penisini
New York Giants
- Signed: DL Elijah Chatman
- Waived: OLB Jeremiah Martin
New York Jets
- Signed: WR Hamze El-Zayat, RB Markese Stepp
- Waived: RB Jacques Patrick, DE Marquiss Spencer
Philadelphia Eagles
- Signed: CB Shon Stephens
- Waived: TE Noah Togiai
Pittsburgh Steelers
- Waived: OL Kellen Diesch
San Francisco 49ers
- Signed: DL Shakel Brown
Seattle Seahawks
- Signed: DE Nathan Pickering, LB Devin Richardson
Tennessee Titans
- Signed: TE Nick Vannett
