Detroit Lions’ head coach Matt Patricia and GM Bob Quinn are on the NFL’s hottest seats. Today we focus on the state of this team if they were to be fired.
An interesting question that included the Detroit Lions was brought up by The Draft Network’s analyst Jordan Reid recently. If you were a general manager or head-coaching candidate, where would you rank the Motor City among other potential openings across the NFL?
It warrants some discussion and led to a question of its own; if the Lions were to have a head coach/general manager position open, would it be appealing?
Fans frequently mention it, but Detroit isn’t a top destination. From signing top-tier free-agent players, coaches, and even draftees (at times), the Lions have struggled to bring in assets.
Here’s an analysis on what stands out and what doesn’t in this area for Detroit. Also, we’ll look at aspects of the franchise that could make candidates indifferent on a potential vacancy.
Pros
The Salary Cap situation is in good standing
The Lions do have a few major contracts on the books. Although, majority of them belong to good to players.
Here’s the situation, a regime can not come in here and move on from players including defensive end Trey Flowers, cornerback Justin Coleman, linebacker Jamie Collins, left tackle Taylor Decker, and right tackle Halapoulivaati Vaitai without incurring an over-abundance in dead cap.
If you are not entirely sure, this is how the dead cap in the NFL works . Let’s say general manager Bob Quinn decided to cut Flowers. His dead cap is set at 32 million and his cap hit for this season is only at 20 million. So, by cutting Flowers, the Lions now lose 12 million in cap space.
I’ll go into depth about how keeping these players could be a good thing later in the article. The point being made is that outside of those five players, the Lions have cap flexibility.
According to Over the Cap, Detroit projects to have a little over 17 million in cap space next off season. If a general manager is smart about it, that number could be significantly more in the following season.