How are Detroit Lions Spending Their Money in the NFL?
The Detroit Lions are a Detroit-based professional American football team. The Lions are a member of the National Football Conference North Division in the National Football League. The team’s home games are held at Ford Field in Detroit. Between 1935 through 1957, the Lions won four NFL Championship Games, all before the Super Bowl era.
The team has only won one playoff game since 1957, during the 1991 season, and has the league’s worst postseason victory drought. They are the only Super Bowl-less franchise that has been in existence for the entire Super Bowl era.
Throughout the franchise’s existence, the Lions have had 30 different head coaches. Dan Campbell, the Lions’ current head coach, was hired on January 20, 2021. All this shows how the Lions have struggled in the past. While the team has failed to taste success lately, fans always expect them to fight for a championship every season. With that in mind, we take a look at the positional spending of the franchise.
Detroit Lions – Spending in NFL
| PositionS | Cap Hit (in million $) | League Rank | League Average (in million) | Differential (in million $) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| QB | 34.3 | 5 | $19.5 | 14.8 |
| RB/FB | 11 | 17 | $11.6 | -0.6 |
| TE | 11.3 | 12 | $11.4 | -0.1 |
| WR | 16.9 | 23 | $23.4 | -6.5 |
| OL | 50.6 | 4 | $37.3 | 13.3 |
| DL | 25.9 | 23 | $35.2 | -9.3 |
| LB | 28 | 13 | $25.4 | 2.6 |
| DBs | 34 | 18 | $35.6 | -1.6 |
| ST | 4.4 | 29 | $6.6 | -2.2 |
| Total | 216.5 | 11 | $206.1 | 10.4 |
| Dead Money | 20.28 | 14 | $29.5 | -9.22 |
| Cap Space | 9.95 | 18 | $11.0 | -1.05 |
The NFL confirmed the salary cap for the 2022 season, putting the base at $208,200,000. The Lions have $25.8 million in cap space, according to OTC, but they have yet to adjust for Flowers’ release, which means another $10.4 million will be added. Things are still fluid with the salary cap, as they usually are.
Finally, the Lions start the new year in good condition to be proactive in their talent acquisitions in year two of their reconstruction. Now that a slew of poor contracts are off the books and a new, youthful nucleus is forming, Detroit appears to be ready to return to the negotiating table.
