The 5 guys on NFI/PUP/IR to return is about $16.3m.
3 guys on season ending IR (K Law/ D Clark/ P Turner) total ~$2m
guys that will be released to get to 53 $1.5m
Existing dead cap. $34m
Then you have to save ~1% of the cap for the practice squad players and elevations for the season $3.2m
All that totals out to under $1m left in space.
The only real way they can save some money.
Save about $500k by giving an injury settlement to Clark and Turner. (I expect to happen soon)
Could save money on the books for this year by extending Laporta and Branch. Kicking their salaries owed down the road. Roughly $3m total.
The settlement between Arnold and the Lions lifting his base pay off the books. ~$4m
So realistically they COULD save lets say low end $6m high end $8m. That is enough to make a decent acquisition at the deadline. Because the money the lions would take on for 2026 would just be the base salary owed for the remainder of the year. (Roughly 1/2 of base salary week 9)
But there’s virtually $0 available currently to sign anyone after cuts. Other than league minimum players
going to say, they have money, the staff wouldn’t short themselves OR not have some form of reserve funds , in case of emergency or other situations that they could borrow from. I used to believe in a “Cap” until these teams were doling out money like they had money trees and shit to get who and what they wanted.
Do they have the option of restructuring the contracts of say Goff and saint or Sewell? Or is that something they have to do in the offseason? Not sure how all that works with this years cap vs next.
They could. It wouldn’t save that much but enough for emergency. But at this point till close to the deadline. Dont expect anything but league minimum signings
Yeah we actually are doing that method to sign our own guys, but haven’t really done it for external acquisitions as far as I can remember. I may be wrong about that.
Weve done smaller ones. I mean last year outside guys: monty, glasgow, Anzalone, Davenport, Mohamad, Lopez, Reader, reed were all the team as FA or trade acquisitions.
This year? Dobbs, Pachecho, Dortch, Mayes, Scruggs, McLaughlin, Borom, Conklin, Wunnom Reed, whiteside, rock, maddox, Izein, mcCreary, clark, harper.
All are added guys. Not drafts or UDFA. and Reed, Borom, Rock, Wunnom, Mayes, Izen, and Pachecho are $36m (5m aav) total cap hit this year almost all guaranteed. Thats nothing to sneeze at.
And yea lions are top 5 in the NFL in cap owed against Cash already paid. Thats how you push cap hits down the line. More cash up front. Just mostly home grown guys
The original post that I quoted said the Lions “Never have money”. If you think the Lions never have money, then you’re really saying, the Lions never borrow from the future. Which is what I believed the original post was round-a-bout trying to say.
You’ve correctly shown that the Lions have borrowed from the future, and do have money. (I hearted your post cause I agree) I do think many here want us to borrow more from the future, like the Eagles. It’s worked for them.
