Examining what a new $180 million salary cap floor means for the Detroit Lions’ 2021 offseason.
Per the NFL/NFLPA collective bargaining agreement, the NFL’s salary cap is determined based on profit/loss from the previous season. In 2020, the salary cap was $198.2 million, but with the COVID-19 pandemic negatively impacted the league’s profitability, the salary cap is expected to see a significant drop.
The NFL is still in the process of determining the final 2021 salary cap, but in a new memo sent out to NFL clubs, they announced that they have raised the cap floor from $175 million to $180 million.
This is still a sharp decline, but the league said it will continue working on ways to increase this number — they are negotiating new television contracts and auditing their final 2020 revenue figures — before the league’s new year begins on March 17th.
The Lions have also rolled over $12.8 million from last season and will put that towards their available cap room in 2021, meaning their cap floor is actually $192.8 million.
Currently, the Lions have $185.2 million invested in 53 players and are under the requirements for beginning the new year, but once the new year begins and the Matthew Stafford/Jared Goff trade becomes official, the Lions cap will see a significant change.
As noted when examining how the trade would impact the Lions cap, Stafford’s $33 million comes off the books but he leaves behind a $19 million cap hit. Then factoring in Goff’s new contract cost of $28.15 million, and the Lions are going to take on an additional $14.15 million in cap charges once the trade happens.
That means, the Lions’ new cap number will be approximately $199.35 million and they will be roughly $6.5 million over the allowed allotment.
$6.5 million over the cap is not ideal, but half the league is in a worse situation than the Lions — including all three teams in the NFC North — and the Lions seem poised to clear more cap space by releasing players with bloated contracts.
With cuts coming and the League continuing to attempt to raise the salary cap floor, the Lions should find themselves in a much better cap situation come mid-March.
