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On Wednesday, the Detroit Lions and linebacker DeAndre Levy agreed to a four-year contract extension. On Thursday morning, Levy officially signed the deal:
A good morning for Lions fans as the team makes DeAndre Levy's extension official (via Lions FB) pic.twitter.com/jf7qxT7IEs
— Josh Katzenstein (@jkatzenstein) August 6, 2015
Now, on Thursday afternoon, the salary details have finally leaked out, and it looks like the Lions got quite a bargain:
Details on that 4-year extension for #Lions LB DeAndre Levy: Its worth $33.72M ($8.43M per year). $20M in guarantees.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) August 6, 2015
As noted by Josh Katzenstein, $8.4 million a year puts Levy 13th in the NFL at linebacker. Granted, most of the players ahead of Levy on that list are pass-rushing linebackers who play in a 3-4 system, so it's not completely fair to compare their deals to the extension that Levy just signed. Either way, I'm sure the Lions are thrilled to get Levy for $8.4 million a year considering how good he has been the past two seasons and how much he means to their defense.
For Levy, the deal he signed back in 2013 was worth $9.75 million over three years. That included a base salary of $3.5 million for 2015, so he will be getting a pretty nice raise out of this extension. Also, with much of the money in the extension being guaranteed, that's another plus for Levy.
Overall, I would call this a win for both sides. The Lions now have Levy under contract through 2019 at a reasonable price, and Levy's hard work has been rewarded with a raise, a solid amount of guaranteed money and an extension that will keep him with the team that drafted him for years to come.