Detroit Lions restructure Jack Fox’s contract, free up $1.6 million in cap space

The Detroit Lions have been very active through the first week of the 2023 free agency period. They have made bold moves, returned key players, and created cap space in a variety of ways, including renegotiations and restructures.

One restructured contract that has not been previously reported is that of Pro Bowl punter Jack Fox, who helped the Lions free up an additional $1.6 million in salary cap space for the 2023 season.

Let’s take a look at his old contract, compared to the new restructured deal with a little help from our friends at OverTheCap.com:

Jack Fox, restructure saves the Lions $1.6 million in 2023

The Lions and Fox agreed to take $1M of his base salary and $1M of his bonus money scheduled for 2023 and converted it into a prorated signing bonus that is paid out immediately. That new $2M prorated bonus was added to the existing prorated bonus and was evenly split over all four years adding an additional $500,000 to each season and freeing up $1.6M in new space for 2023.

Note: Fox’s original 2023 additional bonus money was reported as $1.1M, but after this restructure, $100,000 is unaccounted for.

This was a good deal for the Lions because they get some extra room for all their new additions, while Fox benefits by adding $2M more in guarantees to his four-year contract. The new deal also gives Fox some roster stability, as he has more guarantees than his cap hit in 2023 and 2024, and then in 2025, nearly half of his contract is still guaranteed.

Follow all of the latest Lions moves with our 2023 free agency tracker, and our offseason news and rumors tracker.