Detroit Lions restructure Carlton Davis’ contract, free up 2024 cap space

The Detroit Lions restructured newly-traded-for cornerback Carlton Davis, lowering his cap hit significantly from $14.35 million.

When the Detroit Lions acquired cornerback Carlton Davis in a trade with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, they also acquired his hefty $14 million salary and $14.35 million cap hit. That figure immediately hit the Lions’ salary cap once the new league year hit and the trade was official, leading many to believe the Lions would extend or restructure the contract to give the Lions some more breathing room.

The Lions reportedly chose the latter of the options, as Jason Fitzgerald of Over The Cap reported. The Lions converted $6 million of that salary into a signing bonus—paid out immediately to Davis. Then the Lions added three void years to the contract, spreading out the cap hit of that $6 million signing bonus over the next four years ($1.5 million per year).

Old contract

• $14 million salary
• Up to $500,000 in per game roster bonus ($352,941 likely to be earned based on 12 games played in 2023)
• Cap hit: $14.35 million

And here’s his new contract:

2024:

• $8 million salary
• $1.5 million in signing bonus proration
• Up to $500,000 in per game roster bonus
• Cap hit: $9.85 million

2025 (automatically voids):

• $4.5 million in dead cap (all 3 remaining void years accelerate to 2025 cap)

So while the signing bonus is technically spread out right now through the 2027 season, as soon as the contract automatically voids next year on February 20, 2025, all of the remaining prorated signing bonus hits the cap, resulting in a significant $4.5 million in dead cap next year, even though Davis is not signed for 2025. Detroit could always choose to re-sign or extend Davis, but they’ll still have to account for that $4.5 million.

The Lions aren’t exactly creating cap space out of nowhere. They’re essentially just pushing about a third of Davis’ sizable cap hit into next year to ease the immediate hit, provide more space to make more moves, and transfer that extra cap into a year in which the salary cap is expected to be higher than it was this year.