Projecting what an Alim McNeill extension could look like for Detroit Lions

Allen Park — If case you haven’t noticed, there’s a fresh wave of extensions getting done across the NFL, with Brandon Aiyuk, CeeDee Lamb, Trent Williams, Cam Heyward and Patrick Surtain II among those scoring new deals in recent days.

Could Detroit Lions defensive tackle Alim McNeill join the party? Last week, we were told the talks between team and player remained in the infancy stages, but these things can come together quickly when both sides are motivated.

What would a new deal for McNeill even look like? Contract projections can be tricky. You begin with a few reasonable comps, before attempting to factor in salary cap inflation and team-specific structure preferences.

Underestimating inflation tripped me up a bit when estimating Jared Goff’s extension earlier this offseason. I had Goff at $48 million per season, but a sharper-than-anticipated rise in the cap brought the figure in at $53 million per.

For similar reasons, I also came up short with my Amon-Ra St. Brown projection, both in dollars and years. I thought he could seek a year less than the four he took, just to cash in again while in his prime. And the estimated $26 million per season was shy of the $30 million the Lions gave him.

I’ll look to avoid making the same mistake with McNeill.