The Lions Cap Situation and Options they have

Probably the most interesting offseason story this year, at least in my mind, is how the Lions are going to handle their salary cap situation. While they are under the cap, unlike several other teams, they are right against the cap limit and to make it worse, as of right now, four players will be constituting almost 50% of their cap. Those players are Kyle Vanden Bosch, Matthew Stafford, Ndamukong Suh and Calvin Johnson. That’s the price you pay for having so many high picks before the new rookie wage scale (Johnson and Suh were #2 overall picks in 2007 and 2010 respectively and Stafford was the #1 overall pick in 2009). Johnson himself is going to count over $21 million against the cap if things don’t change.

While the issues of Kyle Vanden Bosch’s contract can be settled with a simple re-negotiation, release or trade, Johnson, Suh and Stafford are key pieces to the Lions future success. What’s worse, they happened to be very good at their positions, so they’re going to be getting big contracts either way. While Stafford and Suh have some years left on their rookie contracts, Johnson is in the last year of his deal. Given the season he had and the salary cap number he carries, it’s a good bet that he’s going to be getting an extension.

With the extension, the Lions should figure to clear about seven to ten million dollars in cap space this year, and that’s assuming a contract similar to the 8-year, 128.5 million contract Larry Fitzgerald signed in August. While the Lions will probably try to distribute the cap ramifications a bit better (Fitzgerald’s deal has him counting 20 million against the cap the first two years) just meeting the average salary he’s paid each year, 15 million, would give the Lions some breathing room. It’s more likely that the Lions will structure the deal in such a way that they could clear about ten million in cap space the first year and hold off the larger portions of the deal till the back half of the contract. He’d be averaging roughly 16 or 17 million a year.

For Stafford and Suh, it’d be harder for the Lions to sign them to extensions, since there are still a good number of years left on their rookie deals. However, because of those extra years, the Liosn have the ability to re-structure those contracts and clear some space. Not a lot, but some is better than none.

Vanden Bosch is the easiest of the group. He’s older, not as productive as he once was and, (at least according to the numbers I can find) would have a minimal cap hit if released. Releasing him would clear about five million in cap space for 2012 and 2013. However, Vanden Bosch is a favorite of head coach Jim Schwartz and a leader on that young defense. I think it’s likely that they’ll release him and try to re-sign him to a reduced contract as a rotational player on the defensive line. He has limited market value because of his recent production and age.

Two other major moves that could be made in clearing cap space are the releases of Corey Williams and Nate Burleson. Williams would be the trickiest to straight out release because of the distribution of the money he was to earn because of his contract with Cleveland and how it was distributed when he joined the Lion. However, he does count something close to six million against the cap this year and could still be released. Nate Burleson counts four million against the cap and has minimal bonuses. I think there’s a good chance he’s on the chopping block, especially since his production was not as good as expected this year with Titus Young stepping in. Combined they account for ten millions against the salary cap and releasing them (again according to the numbers I have) would free up a little less than nine million in cap space.

And this is the part where I need to apologize to Lions GM Martin Mayhew. Following last year’s draft I was highly critical of his decision to draft Nick Fairley and Titus Young. In fairness, my criticism came from the fact that the Lions needed secondary help, an issue that remains one year later. However, because the Lions did draft those two players, they have players who can replace Williams and Burleson easily should they decide to release them. It gives them a flexibility they would have lacked had the addressed the defensive backfield first. 

There are of course other options the Lions could explore. Dominic Rioala, Stephen Peterman and Rob Sims all have longer term contracts that could be re-structured and Jahvid Best’s injury problems could provide an impetus for the Lions to try re-working his deal. No matter how it works out, it’s certainly going to be interesting to see how the Lions walk this tight rope.