From Matthew Stafford to Trevor Lawrence? Detroit Lions trade cost

What else makes a Jacksonville-Detroit trade possible?

An aspect of this that we have not seen discussed is an overview of the Jaguars draft capital and salary cap which suggests that they might be willing to take some future assets in exchange for one big splash class.

The Detroit Lions don’t have a ton of draft capital or cap space and that could make this trade go, as the Lions’ Holmes would likely part with some future picks to kickstart his “retool’ as he likes to call it.

The Jag’s have eleven picks in this draft, including extra first, second, fourth, fifth, and seventh-rounders; they do not have the regular sixth-round pick that they gave up in a trade with the Tennessee Titans, according to the Drafttek website, which follows all draft news and has prospect rankings.

The Spotrac website, which covers professional sports transactions, has the Jacksonville Jaguars at $82.7 million in cap space, as well. For reference, even with the slight increase to the 2021 salary cap, the Detroit Lions have slightly more than the negative-$3.87 million in cap space.

Holmes is expected to make some big cuts to veteran contracts to free up some room, so we would anticipate him having over $20 million after cuts.