The Detroit Lions need to make some moves in order to become salary cap compliant for the 2026 NFL season before the start of the new league year on March 11.
On Friday, the NFL revealed to its teams that it is projecting the salary cap in the range of $301.2 million to $305.7 million per club. Using the midpoint of the projected 2026 salary cap range, the Lions are projected to be $8.26 million over the cap according to Spotrac.
In order to become cap compliant, there’s some restructure candidates that feel like foregone conclusions to free up cap space. That group includes quarterback Jared Goff, wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown and offensive tackle Penei Sewell.
Detroit Lions QB Jared Goff
Current 2026 cap hit: $69.6 million
Current base salary: $55 million
Potential cap savings: $40.275 million
The Lions can morph Goff’s 2026 cap hit all the way down to a $29.3 million cap hit with a restructured contract, where Goff’s $55 million in base salary gets converted into prorated bonuses over the next four years. That would create $40.275 million in cap savings.
Under this scenario, the Lions would pay Goff the $1.3 million base minimum salary in accordance with his credited seasons and then a little more than $28 million in signing bonuses.
WR Amon-Ra St. Brown
Current 2026 cap hit: $33.1 million
Current base salary: $27.5 million
Potential cap savings: $21.1 million
By converting Amon-Ra St. Brown’s $27.5 million of base salary into bonuses over the next five years, the Lions can free up more than $21 million in cap space. Under this scenario, the Lions would turn St. Brown’s 2026 cap hit into $11.594 million, creating the substantial cap savings.
OT Penei Sewell
Current 2026 cap hit: $28 million
Current base salary: $19.9 million
Potential cap savings: $15.028 million
By restructuring Penei Sewell’s current base salary of $19.9 million into bonuses, the Lions can morph his $28 million cap hit down to $12.972 million, creating potential cap savings of $15.028 million.
This is accomplished by spreading the base salary out over the remainder of Sewell’s contract, which runs through 2029 and into a void year in 2030.
DT Alim McNeill
Current 2026 cap hit: $28.966 million
Current base salary: $23.85 million
Potential cap savings: $17.08 million
By restructuring Alim McNeill’s base salary as bonuses over the next four years—the three remaining years McNeill is under contract and one void year in 2029—the Lions can trim McNeill’s 2026 cap hit from $28.966 million to just $11,877,250, creating cap savings of $17.08 million.
The takeaway
With these four players, the Lions can clear more than $93 million off its 2026 salary cap figure.
The Lions structured these contracts in a way where the base salary allows the franchise financial flexibility. While it’s not ideal to kick the can down the road in every situation, Detroit is in a win-now situation where the Lions can justify adding some dead money down the line.
The Goff restructure feels like a foregone conclusion as an easy, straightforward avenue toward cap compliance. And then from there, the Lions could add these one or some of these other restructures to free up more cap space in order to re-sign some of its free agents or to sign free agent talent from elsewhere.
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This article originally appeared on Lions Wire: Detroit Lions restructures that would create 2026 cap space
Reporting by Josh Helmer, Lions Wire / Lions Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
