Good and bad news for the Detroit Lions new regime

More Lions retool bad news and Summary

The other big tidbits of bad news are that several deals on the books cannot be gotten rid of for at least another year. Jared Goff accounts for just over $27.8 million dollars of cap space, defensive end Trey Flowers has a $19.89 million dollar cap number, while linebacker Jamie Collins is an $11.33 million dollar bargain (sarcasm intended), salaries from the Spotrac website.

There is a rumor going around that the Detroit Lions might try to extend or re-work Goff’s deal to open up cap space, as well. That outcome would likely mean Goff is staying for two years minimum. Negotiations would likely spread out Goff’s guaranteed money but make it cost-prohibitive to trade or waive him for the next two years.

As Lions Wire writer, Jeff Risdon, wrote this move likely would signal confidence in Goff to have the quarterback job for a longer-term, so it would make more sense to allow the extended hits to alleviate an immediate cap burden.

We agree that this only makes sense in that circumstance or if the Detroit Lions simply want to buy time to find their guy. One observation a longtime NFL fan might make is that at some point the quarterback re-tread is not usually a way to keep a general manager position for that long. Holmes will have to bring in a rookie within the next two to three years for long-term success unless Goff plays like an All-Pro nearly right away.

Should Goff play poorly, the time window will shrink and Holmes may be pressured to select someone as early as next year. Of course, if he drafts someone this year, it would hasten the calls for a change in the lineup, too.

Additionally, Halapoulivaati Vaitai, who has been a shaky offensive line replacement for former guard Graham Glasgow, is set to earn $10.4 million this year; as a reminder, the Lions didn’t want to pay Glasgow near the $8 million dollar salary he received for leaving.

Glasgow started 13 games at offensive guard in 2020 while Vaitai had a hard time starting 10 games, he additionally failed to bring promised depth to the right tackle position, as well. We digress, though.

Where were we?… Ahh, good news and bad news, right.

In summary, while much of the news for the Holmes-Campbell era signals a rebuild and not the “retool” that Holmes is pushing, there are some potential silver (and Honolulu Blue) linings. Holmes has lots to ponder about how to utilize his draft assets and improve his salary cap situation to make the Detroit Lions competitive.