A Realistic Free-Agent Wish List for the Detroit Lions, Based on Cap Space

December 26, 2012   ·   Dean Holden   ·   Jump to comments

It's never a good sign when a team is talking about the draft and free agency in December.
But that's where the Detroit Lions are right now, as they currently hold a top-five pick in the draft despite preseason expectations that placed them in the bottom-five picks.
Worse yet, the Lions have a whole lot of free agents to deal with, and not a lot of money to do it. At all.
Matthew Stafford, Calvin Johnson and Ndamukong Suh alone are slated to take up over $50 million of a hard salary cap that probably won't exceed $125 million total.
And this in a year when the Lions have to either re-sign or re-build basically their entire defense. Six of the players in the Lions' starting back seven will be free agents in just a few days, as will their best pass-rusher and starting right tackle.
Still, the Lions will have some money to work with; they just need to manage it wisely. That means Martin Mayhew is going to have to do some of his best "square pegging" this offseason...

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