The Lions Have A Salary Cap Mess On Their Hands

by Brandon on Feb 16, 2012 2:00 AM CST in Green Bay Packers Analysis

Mac's Football Blog: Lions Plan Patient Approach To Free Agency.

Though they lost their first round playoff game to Saints, it's been an impressive turnaround for the Lions from 0-16 to the playoffs in only three seasons. And the three players who have had arguably the most to do with their turnaround (Matthew Stafford, Calvin Johnson, and Ndamukong Suh) are killing their salary cap. Those three will account for almost $50 million of cap room next season, unless the Lions can re-negotiate their contracts.

And this is one thing that isn't Matt Millen's fault. Stafford was the top overall pick, while Suh and Johnson were top two. Those top draft picks were given insane contracts, and it was something they changed in the last collective bargaining agreement. Unfortunately for the Lions, the changes didn't come soon enough. They should be able to get something done now, but managing these three players huge cap numbers will be an ongoing problem for them.

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Good catch Brandon..

I saw an article yesterday that Calvin Johnson’s cap number for 2012 will be around $21M..wowsa! He needs to be restructured..good for the NFC North foes of the Lion

I love wins. Wins are good for the soul.- Barry Alvarez Sep 25, 2005

We expect to win.- Ted Thompson July 28, 2011

by White92 on Feb 16, 2012 7:30 AM CST reply actions

According to this site

here, Megatron’s cap hit is closer to 18 mil. I don’t know which one is correct, but it still goes to show how ridiculous rookie contracts had gotten. The Lions aren’t in that bad of a situation money wise at this point, but they have a lot of free agents. A team in a worse spot is Arizona, who is already over 120 mil for 2012 thanks to paying over 20 mil to Larry Fitzgerald, over 18 mil to Levi Brown, and 10 mil to Kevin Kolb.

by Bezerkers on Feb 16, 2012 8:10 AM CST reply actions

Everywhere else

Says Megatrons Cap hit is gonna be around 22-23 million. He hit a bunch of escalators in his contract which raises it. That site doesn’t have that info included.

by Shoes31 on Feb 16, 2012 1:01 PM CST up reply actions

Levi won't be there next year.

Unles its on a re-structured contract. He is an unmitigated disaster at LT… He might make a decent RT or RG, but thats even debatable. So you can take that 18M off the books. Not sure how big a cap hit for cutting him, but its alot better than the altermative.

Fitz and Megatron are alot alike in that they are getting over paid riduculously due the their high draft status and outragious contracts. Fitz cost AZ Anquan Boldin cuz they couldn’t afford to pay 2 WR franchise money.

Our Biggest Challenge is how we deal w/ Success!

by Strohman on Feb 16, 2012 7:06 PM CST up reply actions

If the site I linked earlier is correct,

Fitzgerald has his deal structured kind of odd. He’s due over 20 mil this season, but 15 mil of it is in bonuses. Next season his cap hit will only be 5.5 mil, and then for the five remaining years the cap hit will be 13 to 16 mil.

by Bezerkers on Feb 17, 2012 7:39 AM CST up reply actions

remnants of the matt millen dynasty

aaaaaaaaahh, I gotta go!!

by b3nihana on Feb 16, 2012 8:47 AM CST reply actions

Almost time for another bailout in Detroit

Should we get the government involved?

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by Icebowler on Feb 16, 2012 10:15 AM CST reply actions 6 recs

Lol nicely done..

Verbal rec for you

*Proud Packers shareholder*
With my last breath, I curse Zoidberg!

by RaY210 on Feb 16, 2012 10:38 AM CST via mobile up reply actions

LMAO Icebowler... Good one! : )

"SOUTHERN HILLS KENNEL" ~ We Breed The Best Bitches In TEXAS!!!

GO PACK GO!!!

by BirdDogUni on Feb 16, 2012 11:11 AM CST up reply actions

...

Taked baby. Meet at later bar, night or day sometime.

by Charlie Kelly on Feb 16, 2012 2:31 PM CST up reply actions 1 recs

New CBA

This is why rookie contracts were such a key point in the new CBA. Those guys with the huge contracts? All bonus babies with outsized contracts. At the moment they’ve developed and the team has reached a turning point—the way the draft is supposed to work—they’ve become too expensive because of how the draft used to work. With limitations in place on rookie contracts, this is the kind of thing that won’t happen in the future.

by mpbMKE on Feb 16, 2012 5:37 PM CST reply actions