Detroit Lions Post-Draft 2026 Salary Cap Update

The NFL Draft is over, and now the Detroit Lions' focus is on building out their 90-man roster for training camp.

Detroit made seven selections in the draft, and has reportedly agreed to deals with a number of undrafted free agents. Officially, their roster is currently at 78 players, but they could add nine more with the reported undrafted free agent signings that have not yet been announced by the team.

It has been something of a whirlwind offseason for the Lions, who made the decision to part ways with multiple key veteran players. This has had an impact on the salary cap, with moves to release Graham Glasgow and Taylor Decker creating cap room to sign veteran free agents.

The Lions also created some cap room by electing to restructure quarterback Jared Goff's contract. Originally slated to have a cap hit of around $60 million, Goff's cap number was lowered through the restructure process to afford the team more cap space.

Currently, the Lions rank 14th in the league in available cap space according to OverTheCap with $22,582,868. That amount does not totally reflect where the Lions stand, as it will change as their draft picks begin to sign their official rookie deals.

Based on estimates, the Lions' draft picks will have rookie contracts that range from $21.87 million in total to $4.41 million. First-round pick Blake Miller is expected to make just under $4 million in his first season, according to Spotrac.

In all, Spotrac's estimates indicate that around $11.132 million will be added through the Lions' books to account for the first year of this class' rookie contract.

As far as dead cap goes, the Lions added some to that tally with their moves this offseason. The release of Decker created $9.444 million, while the trade of running back David Montgomery created $4,862,501.

Detroit also added dead cap charges with their losses of Graham Glasgow ($2.875 million) and DJ Reader ($3,729,000). In total, the Lions have just under $26.5 million in dead cap heading into the 2026 season.

The Lions have made decisions this offseason with the future in mind, prioritizing veteran free agents on one-year contracts throughout the process to allow them the flexibility to make extensions for some of their eligible young talents.

Detroit still has the financial flexibility to make a move for a contributor via trade or free agency, but they likely couldn't go after a star without freeing up more space. As a result, it can be expected that the remaining roster spots will be filled with marginal moves to help bolster the roster's depth.

Lions' 2026 top-five cap hits

QB Jared Goff — $37.6 million
WR Amon-Ra St. Brown — $33.11 million
DT Alim McNeill — $28.966 million
OT Penei Sewell — $28 million
CB D.J. Reed — $17.867 million

Lions' dead cap hits

Taylor Decker — $9,444,000
David Montgomery — $4,862,501
DJ Reader — $3,729,000
Frank Ragnow — $3,600,000
Alex Anzalone — $1,200,000
Hendon Hooker — $289,823
Brodric Martin — $214,378
Ahmed Hassanein — $172,419

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