QB Jared Goff is Detroit's highest-paid athlete; who's tops on the other three pro teams?
Once upon a time, during another run of Detroit Lions success, their coach, Wayne Fontes, referred to himself as “the Big Buck,” a playful reference to a seeming bullseye on his back every time the Lions hit a skid during the season.
Nearly 30 years later, there’s another Big Buck in Honolulu blue — or is that Big Bucks? — as quarterback Jared Goff agreed to a four-year, $212 million contract extension, with an average annual value of $53 million that makes him the second-highest paid player in the NFL (behind only Cincinnati QB Joe Burrow).
Goff will be the highest-paid athlete in Detroit sports history, but the city’s had its fair share of well-paid athletes on other teams, too. Here’s a look at the Big Bucks, past and present, that’ve been spread around by the Lions, Pistons, Red Wings and Tigers
SHAWN WINDSOR: Detroit Lions had to pay Jared Goff. Can big-money QB help realize Super Bowl dreams?
Detroit Lions: Jared Goff ($53M)
Then and now: Goff became the highest-paid Lion on Jan. 30, 2021, when the Los Angeles Rams shipped him to the Lions with a package of draft picks for Matthew Stafford, whose $27 million average salary (on a five-year deal signed in 2017) had previously been the team high. But Goff arrived in the Motor City on a four-year, $134 million deal — signed with the Rams — that began with the 2019 season. In Goff’s first season in Detroit, the Lions struggled to a 3-13-1 record and Goff missed three games with injuries. But he rebounded to make the Pro Bowl in Year 2, while passing for 4,438 yards, 29 touchdowns and seven interceptions. Last season was arguably the best of his eight-year career, as Goff passed for 4,575 yards, 30 touchdowns and 12 interceptions, becoming just the third QB in franchise history with 30 TDs in a year. And so, the Lions tacked on a few more years to his deal — with $170 million in guaranteed money — to keep him in Honolulu blue and silver (and black, we guess) through 2028, potentially.
Detroit Pistons: Blake Griffin ($34.2M) and Isaiah Stewart ($15M)
Then: Like Goff, Griffin took over the franchise payday lead once he was traded to Detroit on Jan. 29, 2018. In Griffin’s case, he brought with him a five-year, $171.2 million contract — for an average salary of $34.2 million —signed with the Los Angeles Clippers in 2017. Griffin didn’t make it to the end of his mega-deal in Detroit, as the team bought out his contract with a few weeks left in the 2020-21 season, with Griffin still owed approximately $75 million for the final two seasons of his deal (though he reportedly waived $13.3 million to become a free agent and join a contender). A five-time All-Star with the Clippers, Griffin didn’t quite reach those heights in his 138 games as a Piston; he averaged 20.7 points, 6.7 rebounds and 5 assists in 33.3 minutes per game in Detroit, making one All-Star squad (2019) and leading the franchise to a playoff berth in the 2018-19 season.
Now: Although veteran Evan Fournier, acquired from New York in February, has a $19 million club option for 2024-25, the Pistons seem unlikely to pick that up. That would make Stewart, selected by the Pistons at No. 16 overall in 2021, the top-paid player next season — at least until the Pistons spend some of the approximately $60 million of cap space in free agency. Stewart’s four-year, $60 million extension kicks in for the 2024-25 season, a nice raise from his rookie deal that paid him $3.8 million a season. Stewart’s four seasons as a Piston have been pockmarked by injuries and suspensions, with just 96 games played of a possible 164 over the last two years. Still, when he was on the court in those seasons, Stewart averaged 11.1 points and 7.4 rebounds a game while shooting 35.3% on 3-pointers as he developed his skills as a stretch forward.
Detroit Red Wings: Dylan Larkin ($8.7M)
Then and now: Toward the end of his third season as captain, in March 2023, the then-26-year-old signed an eight-year, $69.6 million deal that promised an average salary of $8.7 million through the 2030-31 season, his age-34 season. That surpassed the previous high for a Red Wing, $8.5 million for Steve Yzerman (now Larkin’s GM) in 2002-03. The Waterford native and Michigan alumnus wrapped up the 2022-23 season leading the Red Wings in goals (32), assists (47), points (79) and power-play goals (16) in 80 games. Injuries limited Larkin to just 68 games in the first full year of the new deal, but he still led the Wings in goals (33) and added 36 assists with a plus-5 rating.
Detroit Tigers: Miguel Cabrera ($31M) & Javier Baez ($23.3M)
Then: Cabrera signed an eight-year, $248 million deal — that’s an average of $31 million a season, though he made $32 million in his final campaign — in March 2014, as he was coming off back-to-back American League MVP awards. The problem: The extension wasn’t set to kick in until the 2016 season, when Cabrera would be 33. That year was his final non-commish-picked All-Star season, too, as he hit .316 with 38 homers. The rest of the contract was brutal as age and injuries slowed Cabrera’s chase of baseball’s greatest milestones. Miggy hit his 500th homer and 3,000th hit as a Tiger, and wrapped up his career with an emotional final out at first base on Oct. 1, 2023, but the numbers of his deal weren’t pretty: A .272 average with 103 homers and 436 RBIs over 859 games.
Now: With an owners lockout looming, Baez and the Tigers squeezed in a six-year, $140 million deal in December 2021, giving the two-time All-Star an average salary of $23.3 million. The contract was backloaded, however, with just $42 million over the first two seasons, ahead of a player opt-out, and $98 million over the final four years — a $24.5 million average. Unfortunately for the Tigers, Baez struggled in the first two seasons — posting a .634 OPS that was among the worst in baseball, with 272 strikeouts and just 50 walks and 26 homers in 280 games — and then picked up the option. In 2024, Baez has a .172/.208/.233 slash line — and three more seasons left on the deal.
Contact Ryan Ford at rford@freepress.com. Follow him on X (which used to be Twitter, y’know?) @theford.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Who are Detroit's highest-paid athletes now that Jared Goff is paid?
