Marcus Davenport contract details reveal VERY low cap hit for Lions

Many Detroit Lions fans were discouraged when they saw that the team re-signed Marcus Davenport to a deal worth up to $4.75 million. But as we pointed out in the original news article, those “up to” qualifiers in contracts can be highly misleading when evaluating the value of a contract, as it almost includes what is called “not likely to be earned” bonuses that won’t hit against the cap.

That turned out to be exactly the case with Davenport’s contract, which could more traditionally be described as a one-year, $2.5 million contract with an even lower cap hit for the Lions.

Here are the details—as reported by Aaron Wilson and OverTheCap:

Marcus Davenport — One year, $2.5 million contract

• $1.35 million salary (all guaranteed)
• $300,000 signing bonus
• $50,000 per game roster bonus
• Up to $2 million in incentives tied to sacks and playing time (unspecified)

The $2.5 million figure combines the salary ($1.35M), signing bonus ($300,00), and total amount of possible per-game roster bonuses ($50,000 x 17 = $850,000). But the cap hit is calculated differently because of “likely to be earned bonuses” (LTBE) vs. “not likely to be earned” bonuses (NLTBE).

At the start of the season, only LTBE bonuses are charged against the cap. Whether a bonus is LTBE or NLTBE is decided by the previous year’s production. Because Davenport only played two games last season, the Lions will only be charged against the cap with two games worth of roster bonuses—or $100,000. If Davenport ends up playing more than two games, every additional roster bonus he earns will count against the 2026 salary cap (up to $750,000).

So Davenport’s cap hit for 2025 will be:

• $1.35 million salary (all guaranteed)
• $300,000 signing bonus
• $100,000 per game roster bonuses (2/17)
• $1.75 million cap hit

It’s a win-win for the Lions, because if Davenport gets hurt again or doesn’t produce, he’s barely making above the veteran minimum ($1.255M). If Davenport balls out, the Lions get that production at a discounted rate. Even if he earns every single bonus, that bumps him to $4.5 million—or about 50th among all edge rusher earnings for 2025.

So, while Lions general manager Brad Holmes is certainly taking a risk by re-signing a player as injury-prone as Davenport, the financial commitment is so small that it’s a very minor, calculated risk.