The Detroit Lions rewarded All-Pro wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown with a new contract that made him the highest-paid wideout in the NFL. The four-year, $120 million extension that included $77 million guaranteed is a massive deal, albeit one that was quickly surpassed by Minnesota’s Justin Jefferson in the record books.
Despite the $30 million per year average, St. Brown’s new contract is structured such that barely 10 percent of that APY counts against the Lions’ salary cap this season. Amazingly, St. Brown only counts as a cap hit of $4.86 million in 2024, thanks to some creative cap management in the way his deal is constructed.
Detroit’s savvy cap manipulation permeates beyond St. Brown at wide receiver. The entire WR corps will count just $21.543 million against the salary cap, which represents 8.5 percent of the team’s spending. The dollar figure expenditure at wide receiver ranks 26th in the NFL.
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The Lions aren’t even spending half of what the top team, San Francisco, is devoting in cap resources to the wide receiver position in 2024. Green Bay ranks last in WR spending in 2024 at just over $11 million.
The Lions WR breakdown in 2024 cap hits:
St. Brown – $4.862 million
Jameson Williams – $4.762 million
Kalif Raymond – $3.25 million
Donovan Peoples-Jones – $1.3 million
Daurice Fountain – $1.06 million
Tom Kennedy – $985,000
Tre’Quan Smith – $985,000
Antoine Green – $944,190
Maurice Alexander – $915,000
Isaiah Williams – $800,000
Jalon Calhoun – $800,000
Kaden Davis – $795,000
All salary figures courtesy of Spotrac.