Now that it’s officially on the books, it’s time for a look at the contract for new Lions wide receiver D.J. Chark. Detroit’s primary outside free agent acquisition signed a deal that has some wrinkles to it.
On the surface, it’s a one-year deal worth $10 million and all $10 million is fully guaranteed. But the actual structure, as reported by Over The Cap, is a little more complicated than just a straight $10 million payout.
Technically it’s a three-year deal. The Lions added two void years after 2022 to spread out the bonus and keep more cap room available for this season. With a total salary of just $1.035 million — the veteran minimum for a fifth-year player — the remaining $8.965 million comes in the form of a signing bonus. Adding two void years amortizes that bonus over three seasons instead of one.
That means Chark’s cap hit for 2022 is just $4.02 million, a very affordable deal for one of the better free agent wideouts on the market and a far cry from the $21 million-per-year the Jaguars signed Christian Kirk for to essentially replace Chark in Jacksonville.
But the poison pill comes in the form of dead cap figures in 2023 and 2024. There is a $6 million hit (technically $5.977 million) on the 2023 and 2024 caps by adding the void years, divided between the two seasons. The Lions and Chark can wipe that clean with a contract extension signed before his current deal expires, however. Any new contract extension would absorb those figures into the reworked deal.