Lions News

[froot loops]

That's just the way they formatted the page. They are only accounting for people who have already been cut and it became dead money. Once the season is over, Chark's 3 million charge will be on as dead money. You are fixating on dead cap money, but you should be focusing on available. Right now it's at 23 million, which is about enough for one free agent. They will be cutting Brockers and Vataii to get into the mid 30s and then the dead cap hits will be over 10 million.

[kreton]

To me dead cap is an important metric. Paying money to guys not on the team not only is wasted money that is serving no purpose but it reflects poorly on management and the teams ability to evaluate talent.

Available money is important too of course. And 23 million in the next FA class should net at least 2 damn good FA. I don't think there are many guys coming up worth over 20 mil a year that the Lions would be looking at. Although to be fair I think a bit of that is going to resigning Jamaal Williams.

[froot loops]

22 will not net two damn good free agents. The Lions had 36 million l I available money last off-season, their big swing was DJ Chark. They have had to restructure Brockers and Vataii just to be able to promote practice squad player during the season. People understimate how much money you need to get through a season.

[Nick Pappageorgio]

22 would probably nab 2 FAs….remember it’s only 22 next year.

if they do DJ Chark math it’s actually like 4 FAs

[froot loops]

They had 36 last year and they signed nobody of note outside of Chark and they were capped out by game 3.

[ghandi]

They had 36 last year and they signed nobody of note outside of Chark and they were capped out by game 3.

How much of that went towards the draft class?

[froot loops]

I think something like 10 million. Spotrac has it projected as 10 million for next year but that's only for the first 2 picks. The Lions have 5 picks in the top 75 so it's going to be higher than 10 million.

Right off the bat they have to make a decision on Jamaal Williams. He's making it hard to not re-sign but it will be at a little higher rate. I'm not sure on Anzalone, he's another guy making it hard to let go.

Like I said, Brockers and Vataii will be cut. That gets them to the mid 30s, you could get up to 50s if you cut Goff. But I think it's more likely they restructure or perhaps an extension.

[jaadam4]

Roquan Smith or the best available LB then call it a day with FA. Holmes is drafting too good for major splashes as we’ll need to resign our own guys down the road (especially the OL)

[froot loops]

Roquan Smith is going to cost way too much, won't be available and he's a linebacker.

[Nick Pappageorgio]

I think that Roquan will get to the open market.

But will probably cost too much for what he is….I was on the sign Roquan bandwagon earlier, but if you look at the criticisms of him, they’re spot-on. He’s a guy who super athletic, and always around the ball…but he’s rarely the guy making the play. People were acting like the Bears D was the issue…but now that he’s in Baltimore the same shit is happening.

I think he’ll be be available…..but will get massively overpayed. And I’m not sure he’s a true impact player…he’s a plus athlete but an average football players.

Pass

[Mainevent]

I don't think the Lions will chase big FAs, they'll fill in with solid dudes around the edge and look for their difference makers in the draft.

[froot loops]

To me he seems like a player that will stay with the Ravens. But that is just a hunch.

Regarding the Lion salary cap for next season. At the moment they have estimated 23.2 million in available space with only 34 active players.

If you release Brockers and Vaitai, it gets you to 40 million with 32 players on the roster.

They are 15 notable guys who are UFA that are contributing, they are the following with their salaries this year:
Jamaal Williams 4.3
Evan Brown 1.2
Deshaun Elliott .965
Justin Jackson .965
Money Badger 1.0
Matt Nelson.895
Will Harris 2.5
Amani Oruwariye 2.5
Mike Hughes 1.25
Alex Anzalone 1.035
Evan Brown 1.2
Chris Board 1.5
Josh Woods 1.2
Austin Bryant .965
DeShaun Elliott .965
Buggs .965
Cominsky .965
DJ Chark 10 million, I'm not exactly sure how much his works for the 39 million number.

If you leave Chark out of the equation, that's 15 players that equal 22.5 million in cap space used this season. Not all of them would be back, but it's to show how these salaries add up and you would still might short on roster players.

Also, none of these figures include the practice squad, that number is hard to pin down because it is so fluid. Right now it's at 2.5 million, but if you sign a guy to the full time roster, you are paying some new guy to come in.

This is a long way to say next off-season looks like it's going to be quieter than last off-season, unless they really waive/restructure/extend the top salary guys like Goff, Okwara, Walker.

[wcfwtf]

You have a couple guys listed twice but not sure if it makes a difference in your calculations

[Nick Pappageorgio]

Goff’s contract was always going to be looked at after the season….even if it’s just a restructure with some fake years, they should be able to save 7-10m in cap

[Nick Pappageorgio]

Also…looking at the way NO handled the cap last offseason, I’m not sure the salary cap is even a real thing. I’m about to go full Flat Earther on that subject.