The Detroit Lions forced franchise legends Barry Sanders and Calvin Johnson to repay some of their signing bonuses upon retirement, and Frank Ragnow became the latest longtime Lion to do so, following his retirement last spring.
Lions president Rod Wood confirmed to theDetroit Free Press that the franchise sought “a portion” of Ragnow’s signing bonus when he announced his retirement with two years remaining on his contract, but did not say exactly how much Ragnow returned.
“Our precedent goes all the way back to Barry Sanders,” Wood explained. “And if Barry Sanders paid back money. … And I think the reality is, they’re not paying back their money, they’re returning our money. Cause they were paid in advance for services that they hadn’t completed.”
The Lions’ practice, which not all teams follow, in which they pursue signing bonus prorations when players retire early, alienated both Sanders and Johnson.
“You can argue when does that statute of limitations expire, if that’s the right way to put it,” Wood said of the practice. “Clearly, if we signed, let’s use [Jahmyr] Gibbs. We sign Gibbs to a contract tomorrow, and we give him a $20 million signing bonus, and he retires on Friday, are we entitled to the $20 million back?”
“I think every contract’s slightly different,” he continued,” and I won’t get into the negotiations because what we did with any one player wasn’t exactly the same, and it did have something to do with how long ago it was and what percentage of the contract was a signing bonus vs. P5 [base salary].”
The Lions’ frugal practices risk potential stars being more hesitant to sign with the franchise, but it doesn’t seem as if things are going to change any time soon.