We now know more details of the pending trade between the Los Angeles Rams and the Detroit Lions.
No, not that trade. The Jared Goff/Matthew Stafford deal has been done for weeks. This one involved new Lions defensive lineman Michael Brockers.
Per NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport, the Lions will get Brockers for barely a song. It’s a seventh-round pick in the 2023 NFL draft for the 30-year-old defensive lineman, who projects to start right away in Detroit.
Why so little compensation for a productive veteran who still has gas in the tank? It’s simple: the Rams desperately needed the salary cap space. Brockers refused to restructure his contract and the Rams could not afford to keep him. They opted to pay EDGE Leonard Floyd, as well as taking on Stafford’s contract and Goff’s dead money, instead.
Brockers has two years left on his contract, with base salaries of $6.5 million in 2021 and $7.5 million in 2022. None of the salary is guaranteed, however, so the Lions are getting a contract that’s easy to escape if Brockers doesn’t pan out as planned.
