It’s been an offseason of selective signings by the Detroit Lions. To this point, Lions GM Brad Holmes and his staff have brought in just five outside free agents.
Two of those players, Chris Board and Jarrad Davis, play the same position: off-ball linebacker. The contract details of the two new LBs highlight the expectation level the team has for Board and Davis.
Board, formerly of the Ravens, signed a one-year deal for $1.99 million. His base salary is $1.5 million, of which $600,000 is fully guaranteed. There is also a $400,000 bonus and a per-game roster bonus that amortizes to the very odd total cap amount of $1,994,118. It would cost $1 million in dead cap room to cut Board.
Davis returns to Detroit after one year away with the New York Jets. He signed for one year as well at a rate of $1.035 million. None of that salary is guaranteed. Davis does have a roster bonus of $152,500 which raises the total salary cap hit to $1.047 million.
Davis’ deal is essentially the league minimum for a player with five years of experience. There’s zero guaranteed money, which means zero dead cap room if the Lions dump him. It’s a bet-on-yourself tryout for Davis, the league’s lowest-graded linebacker by Pro Football Focus in 2021 (min. 200 snaps).
Board’s deal reflects much more of a commitment from Detroit. His salary is right in line with what the team paid another LB, Alex Anzalone, to return. Board and Anzalone play the same off-ball spot in the Lions’ base defense, the weakside “cover” or “chase” backer. Davis is more of the heavier or strongside backer, a starting position that (for now) belongs to second-year Derrick Barnes.
Based on the contracts, Board will be on the final roster. As of now, he and Anzalone project to compete (with Shaun Dion Hamilton and Josh Woods, both re-signed this offseason) for one starting spot. Board was a special teams standout for the Ravens and figures to be heavily deployed in coverage and return units, too. Keep in mind the base defense will only have two LBs on the field.
When the Lions use three LBs, both Board and Anzalone can play together with Barnes. Davis will need to earn reps backing up Barnes or in specific sub-packages that take advantage of his blitzing ability. He and Anzalone played together at Florida and do have some cross-trained skill-sets.
All contract information is from Over The Cap.
