Right now, it feels unlikely that Jared Goff would take the mythical Tom Brady-style pay cut to help the Lions any time soon

The Detroit Lions are so good. They're so good that it's going to make things hard for them. They drafted all these great players, and like all good things, eventually the bill comes due one way or another. 

The Lions are soon likely going to have to make Aidan Hutchinson the highest-paid edge rusher, Sam LaPorta the highest-paid tight end, Brian Branch the highest-paid safety, Jahmyr Gibbs the highest-paid running back, and Jameson Williams one of the highest-paid receivers. That's not going to be easy to do, and some sacrifices are likely going to have to be made. 

One of the things I always see some Lions fans talking about is Jared Goff taking a pay cut to make some of these signings happen, and how Tom Brady did it for the Patriots. 

It's this Disney movie type thing where a quarterback goes into the GM's office and says, "Take some of this money away from me and pay everyone else so we can win the big one because I don't really care about money." 

The thing about those Tom Brady pay cuts is that they were kind of a mirage. Brady never really took them. What he did do was restructure his contract a few times, and what that did was move the money from one place to another. Brady still got paid all the money he signed on the dotted line for. 

When the Saints were in cap hell with Drew Brees not too long ago, the thought was, "Why doesn't he take one of those Brady deals?" The Athletic's Mike Sando talked with a contract negotiator in 2022 about the Brady paycuts, and this is what they said: 

"One GM suggested Brees could have helped New Orleans if he'd been amenable to taking deals similar to the ones Brady accepted. However, a team contract negotiator said the differences were mostly aesthetic, and that Brady didn't really take less money until the end, when he was looking to leave New England." 

That is true. At the very end of Brady's time in New England, he was underpaid despite being one of the best quarterbacks in the league, but that's not the position the Lions are in right now. 

At this point, Goff is not going anywhere. He's under contract until 2028. The 2025 season is the first year of his extension. It's not impossible, but it's hard to see a restructuring in the first year of the deal. 

It's always possible that Goff may restructure in 2026 to open up some cap space, but it might not be a ton. It could be similar to Patrick Mahomes' restructure last year that opened up $21.6 million for the Chiefs in 2024. 

That will help a lot, but again, it's just changing the way that money is paid out. Goff is still going to get what he signed up for.