For years the Detroit Lions front office has struggled to manage their salary cap but when general manager Bob Quinn was hired he set out to correct that. Over the last four years, Quinn has intelligently navigated each offseason and now they enter the 2019 season with the eighth-most salary cap space in the NFL — officially $19,196,989 available.
Several of the Lions’ offseason additions received back-loaded contracts so they will all see jumps in their salaries next season, but the salary cap has increased by double digits each of the last few offseasons, and with a new CBA deal looming, the Lions sit in very good shape.
Quinn typically carries around $7 million in available cap into each season for in-season adjustments — players going to injured reserve and needing to be replaced, upgrades at positions, as well as the occasional mid-season trade — so their $19 million is likely to take a bit of a hit, but there will still be plenty of available funds to roll over.
For example, last year, even after all the in-season moves — like trading away Golden Tate and acquiring Damon Harrison — the Lions still managed to roll over almost $6.5 million in cap space.
When you create a system of maintaining cap space and allowing yourself room to navigate freely, you put yourself in a position to acquire talent at any time. Just like the Lions did when they aggressively pursued and signed Mike Daniels in July.
For the first time in a long time, the Lions should feel comfortable with their salary cap entering a season.
