Joshua Paschal (born December 17, 1999) is an American football defensive end for the Detroit Lions of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Kentucky and was selected by the Lions in the second round of the 2022 NFL Draft.
Paschal was born in Washington, D.C., and grew up in Prince George’s County, Maryland. He attended Our Lady of Good Counsel High School, where he played football and basketball. As a senior, Paschal had 64 tackles, nine tackles for loss, and 5.5 sacks. Paschal was rated a four-star recruited and committed to play college football at Kentucky Wildcats over offers from Maryland, Oklahoma, Notre Dame, Clemson, Ohio State, and USC.
Paschal played in all 13 of Kentucky’s games as a freshman and finished the season with 17 tackles, 4.5 tackles for loss, and 3.5 sacks. Before the start of preseason training camp, he was diagnosed with malignant melanoma on his left foot. Paschal used a medical redshirt while undergoing treatment, but was able to return for the final three games of Kentucky’s season. He recorded 34 tackles, 9.5 tackles for loss, 3.5 sacks, and two forced fumbles in his redshirt sophomore season. Paschal finished his redshirt junior season with 32 tackles, 6.5 tackles for loss, one sack, and one interception. Paschal was named first-team All-Southeastern Conference by the Associated Press as a redshirt senior after recording 52 tackles and five sacks.
Contract
Josh Paschal signed a 4-year rookie contract with the Detroit Lions worth $7,735,658 with $4,842,553 guaranteed including a $2,805,932 signing bonus.
Salary per year
Base salary: $705,000 · Signing bonus: $701,482 · Dead cap money: $3,862,548 · Cap number: $1,406,482.
Net worth
Paschal’s deal is worth approximately $8.4 million over the life of the contract.
