The Detroit Lions signed Jared Goff to a major contract this offseason. One that made him one of the richest quarterbacks in all of the NFL. We don’t at all think locking up Goff up was a mistake. He’s shown time and time again that he can be one of the best quarterbacks in the league.
Where the Lions did make a really big mistake is that they didn’t take advantage of a newer practice that teams are employing these days. They didn’t insure Goff’s contract.
It sounds weird to think that player would have an insurance policy on their contract, but seven starting quarterbacks went down last year and the league is shifting to take care of their losses when that happens per ESPN’s Kalyn Kahler.
“The CBA labels insurance proceeds as a “refund from the player,” which qualifies the amount as a cap credit for the club for the following season. In the simplest terms, if a player who eats up a significant portion of a club’s salary cap misses significant time with injury or illness, a club doesn’t have to take it as a total loss, but can recover space for the following year. Plus, insurance premium payments don’t count against the salary cap.”
The article really cites Aaron Rodgers’ injury from last year as a key reason why you would want to insure your highest paid player. The Jets lost out on $37 million in 2023. All that money went to a guy that played just a couple snaps. That’s a lot to lose.
The Lions reportedly discussed insuring Goff this offseason, but they ultimately did not do it. Now, this isn’t a huge problem if Goff stays healthy. Where it could become a problem is if Goff were to miss significant time. The Lions could have recouped some of their money and had it help them the next year.
Quarterbacks are already getting hurt this year. Both Jordan Love and Tua Tagovailoa are missing are set to miss some time. They both got new contracts this offseason and the Dolphins and Packers both took out insurance on those deals.
They weren’t alone doing that. The Cowboys took one out for Dak Prescott and the Jaguars got one for Trevor Lawrence. 13 of the top 14 quarterbacks making the most in total value have insurance on them. Goff is the only one who doesn’t.
The Lions aren’t alone here. Other teams aren’t buying the insurance. A lot of them have younger quarterbacks or aren’t defined in their quarterback situation. Teams like the Bears, Steelers, Colts and Panthers.
The Lions are defined. They have their guy on a big contract and they should have protected themselves just in case something goes wrong, even if the price on these premiums are high. It’s worth it to be able to get some money back if you can.