Providing context to Kerby Joseph's contract extension details

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The details for Kerby Joseph's four-year extension with the Detroit Lions are out. The breakdown of those numbers and their impact on the team's cap over the next several years is worth exploring.

All we knew prior to Wednesday was that Joseph had agreed to a four-year, $86 million extension. However, the lack of detail provides very little meaningful information.

While the world would be a simpler place if Joseph's deal paid him $21.5 million per season, that's nowhere near reality.

Here's the reality:

● Joseph received a $10 million signing bonus. For cap purposes, a signing bonus is divided and applied evenly throughout the contract, up to a maximum of five years.

Joseph was already under contract for 2025, so $2 million will count against the cap this year and each of the next four years.

● The All-Pro safety's base salary was reduced from $3.37 million in 2025 to the veteran minimum ($1.1 million). In fact, Joseph's base salary for the duration of the contract is the veteran minimum, steadily increasing to $1.435 million in 2029.

● The Lions baked in $30,000 per game roster bonuses each season, allowing Joseph to earn up to $510,000 per year. He also has workout bonuses of $150,000 from 2026 through the end of the contract tied to his participation in the voluntary portions of the offseason program.

● Here's where the contract gets really interesting. Joseph has a series of option bonuses each year of the extension. They're for the following amounts:

• 2026: $9.625 million

• 2027: $16.58 million

• 2028: $19.035 million

• 2029: $23.905 million

As a reminder, option bonuses are treated similarly to signing bonuses for cap purposes. Typically exercised in the first few days of the new league year, they are spread evenly over the remaining years of the contract.

To maximize this concept, the Lions have added four void years to Joseph's contract, spanning 2030-33. That allows each option bonus to be spread out over five years. That means the 2026 bonus will count $1.925 million against the cap each year, and the 2029 bonus would levy a $4.781 million hit that year, assuming it's exercised by the team.

If you haven't already figured it out, this structure means the Lions will be kicking a considerable sum down the road the longer Joseph remains on the roster.

Here's the year-to-year breakdown:

2025: $3.86 million cap hit ($1.1 million salary, $2.21 million signing bonus proration, $510,000 per game bonuses, $30,000 workout bonus)

2026: $5.8 million cap hit ($1.22 million salary, $2 million signing bonus proration, $1.93 million option bonus proration, $510,000 per game bonuses, $150,000 workout bonus)

2027: $9.16 million cap hit ($1.26 million salary, $2 million signing bonus proration, $5.24 million option bonus proration, $510,000 per game bonuses, $150,000 workout bonus)

2028: $13.02 million cap hit ($1.31 million salary, $2 million signing bonus proration, $9.05 million option bonus proration, $510,000 per game bonuses, $150,000 workout bonus)

2029: $17.93 million cap hit ($1.44 million salary, $2 million signing bonus proration, $13.83 million option bonus proration, $510,000 per game bonuses, $150,000 workout bonus)

2030: Contract voids, $39.1 million dead money cap hit (Once a player is off the roster, the remaining dead money accelerates).

Final notes

With the base salaries already at the veteran minimum, Joseph's contract is unlikely to be restructured through its duration.

Joseph's salaries for the next two years, including the 2026 option bonus, are guaranteed. There is also a high likelihood that Detroit will exercise the 2027 option. After that, things are less certain.

In 2028, things get interesting. The Lions can exercise the $19.035 option that offseason, thereby increasing the future dead-money penalty, or they can opt out of the deal, owing just $23.04 million in dead money.

It's a future dilemma, especially since that figure is significantly more than the $13.02 million cap hit to retain Joseph.

Obviously, owning nearly $40 million in dead money for a player no longer under contract is a tough pill to swallow. However, that's also the year after the league's next TV rights negotiations, which have routinely led to the overall cap rapidly increasing.

One thing to note is the Lions could keep some of that dead money spread out if they extend Joseph again. It's impossible to project health and performance that far into the future, but he'll be only 29 years old at the start of the 2030 season.