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Lions cap space update

Just last week, the Detroit Lions were last in the NFL in cap space. That's no longer the case with them releasing Chris Houston, though. Find out how much room they're now working with in our Lions cap space update.

Tim Fuller-USA TODAY Sports

At this time a week ago, the Detroit Lions were dead last in the NFL in cap space. They only had $732,119 to work with, which wasn't even enough to sign first-round pick Eric Ebron.

On Friday, the Lions did in fact sign Ebron. The thinking all along was that they would have to restructure someone's contract or sign defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh to a long-term deal to free up enough room for Ebron, but they decided to release cornerback Chris Houston instead. Since they waited until after June 1 to cut him, they were able to spread out his dead money over two years, and they freed up $3.5 million in cap space for 2014 in the process.

With the official addition of Ebron to the roster and the departure of Houston, the Lions now have around $2 million in cap space, according to the NFLPA. This puts them 30th in the NFL. Take a look:

Rank Team Cap space
1 Jacksonville Jaguars $28,482,812
2 Cleveland Browns $25,612,290
3 Cincinnati Bengals $23,271,932
4 New York Jets $21,906,269
5 Tennessee Titans $19,257,413
6 Philadelphia Eagles $18,895,510
7 Miami Dolphins $15,733,685
8 Indianapolis Colts $13,806,624
9 Green Bay Packers $13,515,388
10 Tampa Bay Buccaneers $12,906,488
11 Arizona Cardinals $11,367,935
12 Dallas Cowboys $10,550,888
13 Oakland Raiders $10,271,612
14 Kansas City Chiefs $9,712,465
15 Atlanta Falcons $9,258,836
16 Houston Texans $8,717,305
17 Seattle Seahawks $8,704,698
18 Buffalo Bills $7,578,856
19 Minnesota Vikings $7,324,443
20 New England Patriots $7,236,450
21 New York Giants $7,036,009
22 Pittsburgh Steelers $7,013,035
23 Carolina Panthers $6,235,537
24 San Francisco 49ers $5,725,793
25 Chicago Bears $5,209,948
26 Baltimore Ravens $4,309,058
27 Denver Broncos $4,308,457
28 San Diego Chargers $2,133,103
29 Washington Redskins $2,064,143
30 Detroit Lions $2,005,001
31 St. Louis Rams $1,744,098
32 New Orleans Saints $1,718,621

30th isn't great by any means, but the good news is that the Lions' entire draft class is now under contract. No contract restructurings for players still on the team were necessary to make that happen, and now the only really notable storyline for the cap going forward involves Suh's contract negotiations. The hope remains that the Lions will get a deal done with Suh this summer, and if that ends up happening, they should have a lot more than $2 million to work with from a salary cap standpoint.

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