As a residual of drafting so well, the Detroit Lions have had and will continue to have some notable contract business to take care of. Around the time of the 2024 draft they signed wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown and offensive tackle Penei Sewell to big contract extensions. They did it again in late-April this year, agreeing to terms with safety Kerby Joseph on a four-year, $86 million deal.
Back in January Lions' general manager Brad Holmes sounded ready to make Joseph the highest-paid safety in the NFL, and with his new deal he is now that ($21.5 million per year).
Joseph got $36.12 million in total guarantees ($24.38 million guaranteed at signing), including a $10.01 million signing bonus. Of course there are ways to keep the salary cap hits reasonable in a deal of this size.
The Lions left no stones unturned on that front, with four void years (2030-2033) and the use of option bonuses as essentially a replacement for bigger base salaries in all four years of the deal. As a result, Joseph's base salaries in 2026-2029 are all below $1.5 million.
Kerby Joseph's contract extension lands as a bargain for the Lions
ESPN's Dan Graziano recently tabbed the contracts that are the most team-friendly and the most player-friendly at six positions. At safety, Joseph's freshly inked extension was named the most team-friendly contract.
"Joseph received a $10.011 million signing bonus and a fully guaranteed $1.61 million in 2025, a fully guaranteed $11.5 million in 2026 and a fully guaranteed $1.26 million in 2027. It's always good to get any fully guaranteed money in the third year, so we're not sneezing at that. But overall, Joseph's deal seems to fall short of other players at his position who've signed recently. Camryn Bynum's free agent deal with the Colts this offseason, for example, includes an $18 million signing bonus and $26 million in full guarantees."
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"If Joseph sticks around, he stands to make $18.5 million in 2027, $21 million in 2028 and $26 million in 2029. But those years are a long way off, and the only guarantees they include are that $1.26 million in 2027. If the Lions want to, they can get out of this deal after the 2026 season having paid Joseph a total of $24.381 million. And Joseph's deal should be quite helpful for the Lions, whose list of extension-eligible players over the next calendar year and a half includes Aidan Hutchinson, Jameson Williams, Jahmyr Gibbs, Sam LaPorta, Jack Campbell and Brian Branch."
As Graziano pointed to, the Lions can get out of Joseph's contract after the 2026 season having only paid him the aforementioned money guaranteed to him at signing.
According to Over The Cap, a designation as a post-June 1 cut in 2027 would create $7.16 million in cap savings with dead money hits of a shade over $2 million in each of the remaining years of the contract. He also carries a $39.1 million cap hit for 2030, the first void year of the contract, which will be ripe for a restructure down the road.
The Lions are intent on keeping as many of "their own" as possible (Hutchinson, Williams, Gibbs, LaPorta, Branch, etc.), but something (or someone) is going to have to give at some point. The structure of Joseph's contract makes it far more palatable to get other big deals done, which is the No. 1 reason it can be tabbed as a bargain.