The Detroit Lions are a few days away from having some extra cap space allotted to them with the help of the Post-June 1st designation.
The Lions released cornerback Cameron Sutton after he allegedly assaulted his significant other and then went on the run for several weeks.
They released him in March with a Post-June 1st designation, the Lions were able to turn Sutton’s cap hit in dead money. The Lions still have to pay it, but it won’t reflect on this year’s cap.
The initial concern is that the Lions had guaranteed all of Suttons 2024 salary just a few days before the warrant dropped. They intend to void that salary with the leagues approval. Due to the circumstances, there’s no reason to believe they won’t
So what will this move open up in terms of cap space? Quite a bit. On June 2nd the Lions will have created $10.5 million in cap space with Sutton off the books for the most part in 2024.
I say for the most part because the Lions will still have to pay Sutton most of that money, even if it doesn’t hit the cap. They’ll pay him $2.18 million in 2024 and $6.54 million in 2025. That’s not too bad. Especially since it doesn’t affect this years cap.
So what will the Lions have in terms of cap space as they head into minicamp next week? Per Spotrac, the Lions currently have $28, 916,569 in cap space right now. Add $10.5 million and you have $39,416,569. That’s quite a bit.
The Lions will likely look to roll most of that over, so don’t expect them to make a blockbuster trade any time soon. But it will help a lot when they have to extend Aidan Hutchinson next offseason.