Lions Rank Fourth in Dead Cap Money Owed

Exploring Detroit Lions' dead cap situation.

Detroit Lions general manager Brad Holmes has quickly established himself as one of the NFL's best evaluators of young talent. In three drafts, Holmes has added multiple foundational pieces to the organization. 

Now, the players from his first Draft will be extension-eligible this offseason. Top candidates for extensions include Penei Sewell, Amon-Ra St. Brown and Alim McNeill. Sewell's extension can wait an extra year if the Lions elect to pick up his fifth-year option. 

However, some of these decisions regarding free agency and extensions will be impacted by the $14 million in dead cap that was recently officially created. This came as the result of seven contracts automatically voiding on Friday. 

According to Over The Cap, the Lions will also have dead cap money on the books after releasing Marvin Jones and Isaiah Buggs in 2023. In total, the Lions currently have $15.7 million in dead cap. 

That total is fourth most in the league, according to Over The Cap. Jones and the Lions mutually agreed to a release early in the season as he left to deal with a personal matter. 

Buggs signed with the Kansas City Chiefs' practice squad after being released. He recently inked a reserve/futures contract to remain with the team ahead of the 2024 season. 

The Los Angeles Chargers currently have the league's highest dead cap total at $24.6 million, while the Buccaneers have the lowest with $203,678. 

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Dead cap is created when any player with guaranteed money is no longer on the team's roster. In an effort to navigate each player's cap hit, void years can be put in contracts to help spread out the cap space. 

Because these players had void years in their contracts, this dead money is no surprise for Holmes and is likely budgeted for. 

The seven players whose contracts voided last week included Teddy Bridgewater, Ceedy Duce, Emmanuel Moseley, Charles Harris, Graham Glasgow, Halapoulivaati Vaitai and Romeo Okwara. 

In the case of Bridgewater, Gardner-Johnson, Moseley and Glasgow, they all signed one-year deals in 2023 that had void years tacked on to spread out their respective cap hits. 

Vaitai has the largest current dead cap hit at $3.8 million, while Bridgewater's is the smallest at $500,000. Other notables include Okwara having a $3.5 million hit and Duce carrying a $2 million hit. 

Though these seven players' contracts voided on Feb. 16, they will not be officially free agents until free agency opens on March 13. 

Holmes cannot do anything about this dead cap, as it was already on the books and can not be moved around. Even if the Lions are able to re-sign these players, their dead cap hits will not change. 

This dead cap will lower the available money that the Lions can spend in free agency, but the team is still expected to have around $44 million in cap space when it begins. 

As it stands, the Lions currently have 46 players under contract and rank eighth in the league in available cap space.