The Lions have to clear cap space before Week 1. Two details could tell us what Brad Holmes is planning, not just for right now, but for the distant future too
Detroit has plenty of ways to become cap compliant. The more interesting question is which future dollars Holmes is willing to move — and how much room he wants afterward.
The Detroit Lions salary cap situation heading into Week 1 has sparked a conversation worth digging into. Credit where it’s due: this whole thing was inspired by a really good piece from Jeremy Reisman of Pride of Detroit about Detroit’s cap picture once the NFL moves away from the offseason top-51 accounting and starts counting everybody on Monday.
Here’s the thing. I don’t really think the story is whether the Lions can get under the cap. They’re going to get under the cap. They have plenty of ways to do it. As Reisman lays out, some extensions could be coming. Simple. The part I’m watching is how Brad Holmes decides to clear up that cash, which contracts he touches, and how much money he actually creates. Because I think that could tell us a bit about what the Lions are planning for in 2026.
Which contract Holmes restructures matters more than you think
Detroit has several massive contracts it can restructure. Jared Goff is the easy one. The Lions already partially restructured his deal earlier this offseason, but they still have around $14 million of salary cap that could be converted into bonus money. That move alone could create $12 million in cap space. Penei Sewell is another option. Amon-Ra St. Brown is another. So we’re not talking about a team that’s trapped here. This isn’t a situation where Detroit has to start cutting good players just to get under the cap. They can move some numbers around pretty easily.
But when you restructure one of these contracts, you’re not creating free money. You’re taking money that counts against the cap now and pushing some of that accounting into future seasons. That’s why which contract they choose matters to me.
If the Lions restructure Goff again, they’re effectively adding more money onto the back end of a contract that’s already going to carry enormous cap numbers down the road. If they choose Sewell, that’s another long-term commitment. If they choose St. Brown, same thing. Holmes isn’t simply deciding where he can find money. He’s deciding which player he feels comfortable tying even more future cap space to. That is almost another vote of confidence in the player’s place in the long-term core.
I’m looking directly at Goff at this point. If the Lions are saying they want to add more money to Goff’s future cap hits, that almost tells me the Lions might want to extend him at some point. And that’s big. That means the Lions are looking at Goff being their quarterback for a longer stretch, which could affect not just what they do down the road at quarterback, but almost immediately after this season ends.
The Lions have to start thinking about the 2027 draft, and we’re looking at a class expected to be full of quarterbacks. If Detroit decides to push more Goff money down the road, it kind of points to the idea that they might extend him, because you look at his cap hits in 2027 and 2028 and they’re massive. It points toward some sort of extension where they can smooth out those cap hits without taking on a $60 million-plus hit in a single year.
So does that mean the Lions might pass on drafting Goff’s eventual replacement in what is expected to be the best quarterback draft class we’ve seen in a long time? That’s a question to ask. That’s something to really think about. If they don’t do it in 2027, when do they? And how much longer do they plan to hold on to Goff?
To be honest, holding on to Goff is not a bad thing by any stretch. He’s been a very good quarterback, and I think he could be playing at an MVP level again this year. But Goff is older. A move that seems so small right now, a restructure to free up $12 million in cap space, suddenly carries implications for the Lions’ quarterback of the future.
How much space Detroit creates is the other thing to watch
There is a huge difference between the Lions restructuring one contract, getting comfortably under the cap with enough money to operate during the season, and the Lions suddenly creating $15 million, $20 million, or more in additional space. Those are two very different things.
Detroit obviously needs a cushion. Players are going to get hurt during the season. That’s just the NFL. When somebody goes on injured reserve, you’re still paying that player, and now you’re also paying somebody else to take his roster spot. You’re going to have practice squad elevations, roster moves, new players coming in. There are expenses that come up through a 17-game season that we don’t know about yet. The Lions absolutely should not be sitting there with $500,000 of cap space and hoping nothing happens. They need operating money.
But if Detroit suddenly creates significantly more money than it needs just to operate, that’s when my eyebrows go up a little bit. The question becomes, what are you creating that money for?
I want to be very clear. I’m not saying that if the Lions create $20 million in cap space, Holmes definitely has some massive trade lined up. Cap space rolls over. Detroit could create room now because it knows that money can be useful later. There are a bunch of reasons to give yourself flexibility. But the amount of space they create could give us our first real clue about how aggressive Holmes intends to be this season.
If they create the minimum amount necessary to become compliant and comfortably get through the season, that tells you something. Maybe Holmes is comfortable with this roster. Maybe Detroit wants to preserve as much future cap flexibility as possible. But if they start aggressively restructuring multiple contracts and suddenly have a giant pile of spending money available, now we’re having a different conversation. This is a Lions team that believes it can contend right now.
When you get to October and November, maybe there’s a pass rusher available. Maybe there’s an offensive lineman, a receiver, or a cornerback. You don’t know what’s going to happen, but having the cap space gives you the ability to react when that opportunity comes up.
That’s what I’m watching for over the next few days. Not whether the Lions become cap compliant, because I know they will. I want to see if Holmes is going to open up a lot of money. If he does, that may point to the idea that come November, when the trade deadline arrives, if there’s a cornerback or another piece out there that the Lions like and feel could help them get over the hump and contend, they might make a move. Those are the two big things I took away from Reisman’s excellent article.
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