Breaking down how the Lions can pay Aidan Hutchinson more than Micah Parsons and still be able to pay Jahmyr Gibbs, Jameson Wlliams, and everyone else

It actually happened. The Green Bay Packers went out and made a blockbuster deal that brought them All-Pro edge rusher Micah Parsons. On top of that, they made him the highest-paid edge rusher in all the land with a four-year deal worth $188 million, with $136 million of that guaranteed and an average of $47 million a year. Somewhere, Detroit Lions edge rusher Aidan Hutchinson was high-fiving everyone next to him.

That's because he knows that he's about to get paid big. The Lions and Hutchinson have been having dialogue about a new deal, per Lions GM Brad Holmes, and that deal could get done any day now. There's no doubt that it will be expected to be a bigger deal than what Parsons just got. But how can the Lions do that and still be able to pay Jahmyr Gibbs, Jameson Williams, Brian Branch, Sam LaPorta, and Jack Campbell? It can be done, and today we're going to take a crack at how it happens.

First off, what's the deal that Hutchinson is likely to get? Just judging off the market trends, where T.J. Watt had a $163 million deal, and Parsons jumped it all the way up to $188 million. The next place to go is $200 million. So in this project, we'll be signing Hutchinson to a four-year, $200 million extension with $115 million guaranteed and an average per year salary of $50 million. Here's how it lays out:

2025
Base salary: $1.1 million
Old signing bonus proration: $5.788 million
New signing bonus proration: $5.5 million
Cash: $28.6 million
Cap hit: $12.388 million

2026
Base salary: $1.215 million
New signing bonus proration: $5.5 million
Option bonus: $30 million (cap hit: $6 million)
Cash: $31.215 million
Cap hit: $12.715 million

2027
Base salary: $1.26 million
New signing bonus proration: $5.5 million
Option bonus: $35 million (cap hit: $7 million)
Past option bonus proration: $6 million
Cash: $36.26 million
Cap hit: $19.76 million

2028
Base salary: $1.305 million
New signing bonus proration: $5.5 million
Option bonus: $37 million (cap hit: 7.4 million)
Past option bonus proration: $13 million
Cash: $38.305 million
Cap hit: $27.205 million

2029
Base salary: $1.435 million
New signing bonus proration: $5.5 million
Option bonus: $43 million (cap hit: $8.6 million)
Past option bonus proration: $20.4 million
Cash: $44.435 million
Cap hit: $35.935 million

2030
Base salary: $1.48 million
New signing bonus proration: $5.5 million
Option bonus: $45.044 million (cap hit: 9.008 million)
Past option bonus proration: $29 million
Cash: $46.524 million
Cap hit: $44.988 million

2031 (void year)
Dead money: $83.632 million* *This could be spread through two years with a post-June 1 designation or kept prorated with a new extension.

Ok, so two big things happen here. The first is that there's an assumption that once a player is signed to an extension that this extension begins immediately. That's not the case. Hutchinson got a fifth-year option, so he's under contract until 2026 before the extension even starts. But the Lions can use proration and void years to spread out his deal a little more, and that keeps his cap hit low in 2025 and 2026 when the deals for the other guys need to be done.

The void years help spread out the signing bonus and option bonus, and that reduces cap hits. If you're not aware of what a void year is, Jason Fitzgerald of Over the Cap has the best explanation, in my opinion.

"Think of it as a way to finance a purchase that you probably can’t afford, but you are doing whatever you can to stretch your money as much as possible. These are years in a contract that are essentially ‘dummy years’ where you can dump salary cap charges in the future rather than taking the salary cap hit now for the player. For example, let’s say a team only has $4 million in cap room but wants to sign a player to a one-year $10 million contract. You can not afford the $10 million in 2023, so you pay the player an $8 million signing bonus and add four ‘void years,’ which allows you to buy the player this year for just $3.6 million on the cap and then defer the other $6.4 million to the future.”

There is a bit of a risk attached here because when you do so many of these void-year deals like the Lions already have, you can wind up with a lot of dead money. Dead money is ok to have, but a lot of dead money could eventually cause problems. With the big deals that the Lions are going to have to dish out to everyone, you can safely assume that this won't be the last deal that includes void years.

This deal would allow the Lions to pay Gibbs, Branch, Campbell, Williams, and LaPorta top of the market or near top of the market deals for each of them and help retain the whole gang. The low hit in 2027 can help Terrion Arnold get his extension, which could be big if he continues to improve and gets to a high level of play. There's a way to get all this done; it's just going to need some cap gymnastics to make it happen.