We Are About To Enter a New Phase of Free Agency

With the signing of Stephen Tulloch I feel the Lions are pretty much done signing free agent additions to the team.  The only possibility that remains is signing another starting caliber cornerback.  All of the remaining roster additions will be resigning guys that were with us last season.  I still expect to see Bobby Carpenter and Turk McBride back in a Lions uniform for next season.

Now that we are almost done with signing guys to the roster, we are about to see something that will be very interesting.  The teams will go into training camp and the coaches will decide who to keep on their rosters.  Remember that the teams are not really subject to the salary cap until the final 53 man rosters are turned in.  So the front office people will realize their team is over the salary cap and there will be some good players cut as cap casualties.  But are the Lions in a position to take advantage of them?

On first impression, the answer would be no.  But is that really true?  Let's examine a few moves that might put the Lions in position to make another impact signing out of the cap casualties.

The One For One Swap

There are still a few guys on the Lions roster that can potentially be upgraded.  The hypothetical I am going to put out there is having a premier center become available and the Lions are willing to trade salaries to get them.  Currently Dominic Raiola makes $2.4 million in salary.  There are also some bonuses to consider but those are counted as dead money if Raiola goes because the Lions still have to account for them on the salary cap.  It may be possible to structure a deal where the Lions can get a more complete center for that salary.  So you essentially make a one for one swap and then give raises in later seasons as some of the dead cap money comes off the books.

This option is very attractive because the Lions can upgrade the roster without a lot of fuss.  It is a pug and play type of move.  I am sure that there are other places where the same philosophy can be applied in order to improve the team, but Dom is the most obvious example.

Convert Depth to Draft Picks

Another possibility could involve the Lions trading away some of their depth at some positions in order to get draft picks in return.  This could apply to guys like Cliff Avril, Andre Fluellen, Corey Williams, Will Heller, and Dave Rayner.  There are probably a few more, but those names illustrate what I am talking about.  They are all players that have some value, but they can be compensated for on the roster if we lost them.

Let's use Cliff Avril as our example here.  I like Cliff but the strength of the defensive line places him in a difficult position.  Lawrence Jackson could step in and take his starting spot.  Jackson is stronger against the run and not much of a drop-off in pass rushing.  By moving Cliff you can probably get a fourth round draft pick, and with Mayhew, probably more. It is not an ideal return but it allows the Lions to dump some cap while still getting something in return when compared to just releasing somebody.

Keep in mind that a move like this is often better done by trading a player for another player to get full value.  The NFL overvalues draft picks compared to veteran players in trades, unless the player you are trading is a star.  The point of this discussion is to examine how the Lions can clear cap space to sign another guy that was a cap casualty, so I am limiting my discussion to that angle.

Making Room For Youth

In this scenario the Lions would release a guy that is older and has a higher salary and choose to go with a younger, cheaper player at the position. We see this done on teams throughout the league on a regular basis.

Let's return to the Dominic Raiola situation and assume that Dan Gerberry has been the plan to replace Raiola all along.  Gerberry has a very good camp and the Lions feel he is ready to take over the starting position.  So the Lions release Raiola outright to free up his $2.4 million salary and use that to sign a guy that plays another position.  I am not saying that this is the current situation with the Lions, it is just a hypothetical situation.

For the Sake of Discussion

So here is the point where we talk about which players that you feel the Lions can sacrifice under one of these scenarios.  I have given you some of my examples so let me know if you think there are others.  Remember that this is just about some armchair general managing and we shouldn't take anything that people say too seriously.  Just have fun.