After dumping linebacker Jamie Collins to the discard pile, the Detroit Lions have added even more dead money to the salary cap. Collins’ release adds another $5.53 million in dead money on the Lions 2021 salary cap ledger.
It raises the Lions’ dead cap total to an NFL-high $57.4 million for 2021, per Over The Cap. That represents a considerable amount of money being spent on players who are no longer Lions. It’s the hefty price to pay to jumpstart the roster rebuild under new GM Brad Holmes.
A third of the dead money belongs to former QB Matthew Stafford. The Lions are on the hook for $19 million for Stafford even after trading him to the Los Angeles Rams. He’s one of nine players who are no longer on the Detroit roster who costs at least $1 million against the team’s 2021 salary cap.
| Dead money in 2021
(in millions) |
|
| Matthew Stafford | $19.0 |
| Justin Coleman | $6.1 |
| Desmond Trufant | $6.0 |
| Jamie Collins | $5.5 |
| Jesse James | $4.3 |
| Chase Daniel | $3.0 |
| Christian Jones | $2.2 |
| Breshad Perriman | $2.0 |
| Danny Shelton | $1.3 |
Of those hits, the Holmes regime is only responsible for Perriman, who failed to pan out as a wide receiver despite the free agent investment in him this offseason. Kicker Randy Bullock costs the Lions $750,000 in dead money, the next-biggest expense incurred to the dead cap ledger by Holmes.
The good news is that nearly all the dead money clears off the cap for 2022. Collins costs the Lions $6.33 million in obligation for next season, but the only other dead cap the Lions carry over is $758,449 to another too-slow linebacker coveted by the old regime, Jahlani Tavai.