Lions forced Frank Ragnow to pay back part of his signing bonus when he retired
When Lions center Frank Ragnow retired last year, he had to pay the Lions to leave. Lions President Rod Wood confirmed that the Lions required Ragnow to pay back a portion of his signing bonus, which NFL teams are permitted to do when a player retires with seasons remaining on his contract. Wood said that's what the Lions always do when a player under contract chooses to walk away.
“Our precedent goes all the way back to Barry Sanders,” Wood told the Detroit Free Press . “And if Barry Sanders paid back money . .
. . And I think the reality is, they’re not paying back their money, they’re returning our money.
'Cause they were paid in advance for services that they hadn’t completed. ” Both Sanders and Calvin Johnson, arguably the two greatest players in Lions franchise history, were required by the team to pay back bonus money when they retired. In both cases, that caused friction between the franchise and the Hall of Famers, but Wood insists it's good business and only fair for a player to pay back the money for services he didn't render.
"If we signed, let’s use [Jahmyr] Gibbs. We sign Gibbs to a contract tomorrow and we give him a $20 million signing bonus and he retires on Friday, are we entitled to the $20 million back? ” Wood said.