The Detroit Lions have finally restructured some deals to clear up ample cap space ahead of their Week 1 game against the New Orleans Saints. According to Over The Cap, the Lions have cleared up $35.68 million in cap space by restructuring Amon-Ra St. Brown's and Penei Sewell's contracts.
These moves, which increase each player's cap charge by a few million per year until the end of their respective deals, felt necessary in order to clear up room to sign both Sam LaPorta and Brian Branch to new extensions.
LaPorta feels like the most likely of the two to be receiving an extensions shortly, while the Lions may be waiting to see how Branch looks post-achilles tear before paying for him to stick with the team long term. Their hand might be forced with Branch, though, as it's unclear whether Kerby Joseph will really be ready to go after his 4-week IR stint.
Lions restructure two deals, likely clearing space for extensions
LaPorta seems like the likeliest candidate for an extension right now, especially with reports that the Green Bay Packers are looking to get Tucker Kraft locked down with a deal, as welll. Kraft is expected to top out at $20 million per year, which would reset the current tight end market that's set at around $19 million per year by George Kittle.
Once Kraft is locked down with a deal, expect LaPorta's to be done shortly after using this newfound cap space. If the Lions were to be able to get him on board with a deal in that range of $19-20 million per year, that'd leave them with just over $15 million left in cap space. It's unclear what kind of deal Branch is looking for, but Joseph is currently earning about $21 million per year, according to OTC.
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Would it be a mistake for Detroit to commit to Branch without seeing how he looks with a fully recovered year under his belt? It's possible! Look at how slow and not-explosive Alim McNeill looked last year when he came back from the IR - and now, he looks like how he did pre-2024 MCL tear. His deal suddenly doesn't look like such an albatross thanks to his preseason and training camp performance.
We didn't get that from Branch yet, which makes calling for an extension feel premature. It also doesn't feel likely that he'd settle for Jevon Holland or Cam Bynum money considering he was, prior to his injury, an All-Pro caliber safety.
As of now, it might just be worth monitoring LaPorta instead of Branch for an impending deal with this cap space getting clear up.
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