Jared Goff Contract Loophole is a ‘Game Changer’

One of the biggest moves in Detroit Lions franchise history was when the team brought quarterback Jared Goff over from the Los Angeles Rams in 2021 and sent then Lions quarterbacks Matthew Stafford to L.A. Then, following a fantastic season by the Lions, the team inked Goff to a four-year, $212 million extension in May of 2024, which at the time made him one of the highest-paid players in the NFL.

Goff’s cap hit in 2025 is $32.6 million and in 2026 is $69.6 million. We’re talking big bucks. While Detroit has to look at paying Goff they also have some major players who will need to get re-signed and paid after the 2025-26 season, including Jahmyr Gibbs, Jameson Williams, Brian Branch, Sam LaPorta and Jack Campbell. Those extensions aren’t going to be cheap, because all of those players are among the best in their positions in the NFL.

So, what’s a team to do? One NFL analyst points to something in Goff’s contract that hardly anyone is talking about, and it could help the Lions pay these players after next season.

The Part of Jared Goff’s Contract of Interest

The Detroit Lions have some bills to pay, and in a feature published on Wednesday, July 2, by Mike Payton of A to Z Sports, he discusses a small “addition” to Goff’s contract that “changes everything” for the team.

“One gigantic thing that could help the Lions is the void year in Jared Goff’s contract,” he notes in the piece, adding that void years are a normal thing for the Lions and that Goff’s void year is “special” because “it has no money currently attached to it.”

“The reason it doesn’t have any money on it right now is that it’s likely to be used for a restructuring of Goff’s contract. 2026 is the absolute best year to do that,” Payton adds. So, restructuring Goff’s contract could certainly help free up some cap space for the Lions when re-signing other players.

He adds that the Lions “can either stick with the one void year they have now or opt to add additional void years and spread things out more.” Payton also lays out two different ways of doing this and the cap savings involved, which would be $40.275 million for 2026 with one option and $42.96 million for 2026 for another.

Lions Contract Turn to Free Up Cap Space

So, either way it’s sliced, the Lions can free up more than $40 million in space to help get the many extensions they have on the table completed. The Lions could also have void years for some of those players, allowing the team to “spread their money out,” Payton adds. He also calls this a “game changer.”

In other Goff news, he’s still not getting the respect he deserves in fantasy football, or at least the respect that a quarterback with his numbers should likely be getting. In a July 3 feature in ESPN, the publication ranks the NFL quarterbacks, and they have Goff at No. 16. No. 1 on their tally is Lamar Jackson of the Baltimore Ravens, followed by Josh Allen.