A full breakdown of the finances for Detroit Lions free agency signings Roy Lopez and Grant Stuard.
It’s always important not to overreact to initial contract terms when it comes to NFL free agency. With most news breaking via NFL agents, they tend to present the contracts with misleading numbers to boost the perceived value.
Two more contract details are in for the Detroit Lions’ 2025 free agency class, and—again—some numbers were a bit fudged when originally reported.
Here’s the full breakdown of the deals for nose tackle Roy Lopez and linebacker Grant Stuard.
Base salary: $1.33M (fully guaranteed)
Signing bonus: $2M
Active roster bonus: $10,000 per game (up to $170,000)
Cap hit: $3.5 million
Additional: Lopez has $1.15 million in potential incentives. Per Wilson, those incentives are related to sacks, playing time, and playoff appearances
Lopez’s signing displays an increased investment in the backup nose tackle job. Last year, the Lions signed Kyle Peko to a one-year, $1.21 million deal to be the backup. Lopez is getting nearly three times that, and it’s fully guaranteed.
In my opinion, this signifies two things: Lopez is set to have a significant defensive role rotating with veteran nose tackle DJ Reader, and Detroit prioritized getting younger at the position. Peko will turn 32 before the season starts. Lopez will be 28.
Because all of Lopez’s contract is guaranteed for injury, expect him to be a roster lock—which is undoubtedly bad news for 2023 third-round pick Brodric Martin, who has yet to earn a defensive role through two seasons.
The initial report of Lopez’s deal was a one-year, $4.45 million contract, but that total value will only be reached if Lopez hits all of the aforementioned incentives.
Base salary: $1.15M (fully guaranteed)
Signing bonus: $350,000
Cap hit: $1.7 million
This is about as straightforward as a contract can get. Stuard’s contract is fully guaranteed, which gives him a good shot to make the roster because releasing him would not save Detroit any cap space. That said, $1.7 million is not too restrictive either. If Stuard doesn’t win a roster spot, it’s not exactly a huge dead cap hit.
If you view Stuard as a replacement for Jalen Reeves-Maybin, the Lions saved some money here. If the Lions had just kept Reeves-Maybin on the roster, he would have cost $4.25 million against the cap. With him now released, he does still carry $2.25 million in dead cap. However, even when you combine that with Stuard’s $1.7 million cap hit ($3.95), it’s saving the Lions $300,000 in cap space, and—like at nose tackle—the Lions are now significantly younger at the position (Stuard is 26, Reeves-Maybin is 30).
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