With free agency just around the corner, the Detroit Lions won’t have a lot of available cap room to go shopping with on the market. One of the primary reasons is an abundance of dead cap room.
Only three teams carry more dead cap value into the 2021 season than the Lions. Detroit is carrying over $20.262 million in dead cap room.
Nearly all of it is tied to the Matthew Stafford trade. The Lions ate $19 million in dead cap room on Stafford’s contract when they agreed to trade him to the Rams. Romeo Okwara costs the Lions just over $900,000 in dead cap, and Jason Huntley counts $217,734 after the Lions cut the fifth-round pick from a year ago.
The three teams above the Lions are there primarily because of quarterback trades and massive associated cap hits.
Philadelphia has over $40 million in dead cap, with over $34 million tied to the pending Carson Wentz trade to the Colts. The Eagles also swallowed $5.8 million in dead cap this week when they released WR DeSean Jackson.
Next up is Stafford’s new team, the Los Angeles Rams. They paid over $22 million in dead money to Goff in the pending trade. Todd Gurley, who was sent packing last offseason, still counts as an $8.4 million cap hit in 2021. Linebacker Leonard Floyd counts $3.3 million after he was set free.
Carolina also has more dead money than the Lions due to a series of moves. Nearly half the Panthers’ dead money comes from DT Kawann Short, who was released earlier this month.
