As free agency kicks off with the legal tampering period ahead of the official start of the new NFL calendar year on Wednesday, March 13th, it’s a good time to look at just how much the Detroit Lions have available to spend. GM Brad Holmes, COO Mike Disner and the Lions front office have assembled a decent war chest to spend in free agency, if they so choose.
The two leading cap room authorities, Over the Cap and Spotrac, have pretty different figures for the Lions as of 11 a.m. on Match 11th.
Over the Cap calculates the Lions to have exactly $45,278,103 in available cap room. Their figure includes recent contracts to returning Lions Jalen Reeves-Maybin, Emmanuel Moseley and Michael Badgley.
Spotrac has the Lions with about $2 million more in cap room, at $47,412,723. Neither site includes Monday’s deal to re-sign RG Graham Glasgow, nor do they appear to include the upcoming rookie wage pool for draft picks. That would drop the figure down to around $36.8 million based on the Lions picking in their current draft slots.
That’s a healthy amount to take to the free agency negotiations. The Lions rank in the top 10 overall in available cap room. This particular Lions regime has been enthusiastic about buying more cap room by adding void years onto bigger contracts. Those shift some of the cap hit to a later time, allowing more immediate flexibility and availability of funds.
It’s also worth noting the report from Justin Rogers of the Detroit News regarding the philosophy Holmes & Co. value in team-building,
Teams aim to leave a buffer for future accounting costs. For example, only the top 51 salaries are included in the cap calculation during the offseason, but once the regular season hits, the full 53-man roster, plus the 16-man practice squad, count. Additionally, teams have to be prepared for injuries and additions, whether via free agency, waivers or trades. Detroit’s organizational preference is to leave between $15-20 million in funds.
That’s not a terribly uncommon strategy; many teams keep an in-season “slush fund” to deal with the inevitable injuries and practice squad transactions, among other things. The $15-20 million Rogers cites would certainly be on the higher end of any NFL team, however.
Let’s work off the $15 million figure for the in-season cushion. That would leave the Lions with around $22 million to spend in free agency. Keep in mind that includes internal re-signings like Glasgow, as well as any potential contract extensions to players like Amon-Ra St. Brown or Jared Goff.