On Sunday, news broke that the New England Patriots have agreed to terms on a 1-year contract with former NFL MVP Cam Newton. The deal is reportedly a minimum deal but could be worth as much as $7.5 million, depending on how Newton performs during the 2020 season.
Ever since the contract details came out, there have been plenty of people, pointing out that the Detroit Lions signed QB Chase Daniel to a 3-year, $13.5 million contract to be the backup for starter, Matthew Stafford.
On Sunday night, Adam Lefkoe of Bleacher Report tweeted out that Daniel is being paid more than Newton and Jameis Winston combined, which is dishonest.
When former Lion Darius Slay caught wind of the tweet, he took the opportunity to retweet it with a facepalm emoji.
🤦🏾♂️ https://t.co/NL13O1e8Ou
— Darius Slay (@bigplay24slay) June 29, 2020
Obviously, Lefkoe and Slay did not bother taking a deeper look or they would have realized that Daniel is just a $2 million cap hit for the Lions in 2020 (goes up to $5.3 million in 2021). According to Spotrac, Daniel is guaranteed just $5 million (signing bonus + 2020 salary + $1.5 million of 2021 salary) but would be a $3 million dead cap hit in 2021 if he is cut.
Winston, who signed a 1-year deal with the New Orleans Saints ($4.9 max), is a $2.86 million cap hit in 2020, which by himself is more than Daniels $2 million cap hit.
Notable QB deals this offseason:
▫️Ryan Tannehill: 4-$118M
▫️Teddy Bridgewater: 3-$63M
▫️Tom Brady: 2-$59M max
▫️Drew Brees: 2-$50M
▫️Nick Foles: 3-$24M
▫️Philip Rivers: 1-$25M
▫️Taysom Hill: 2-$21M
▫️Cam Newton: 1-$7.5M max
▫️Andy Dalton: 1-$7M max
▫️Jameis Winston: 1-$4.9M max— Field Yates (@FieldYates) June 29, 2020
Do I love the Lions signing Chase Daniel to a 3-year, $13.5 million deal? No, I do not like it at all. But there is a lot of false information floating around saying the Lions are paying Daniel more than Winston and Newton combined and that is not honest. Especially when comparing a 3-year contract to a pair of 1-year deals.
