Detroit Restructure Offensive Lineman's Contract To Clear Cap Space

As NFL teams trim their roster down to 53 players, plenty of teams are still sitting over the salary cap, and while some may need to make trades to get them under the cap, others have been restructuring contracts, and that's exactly what the Detroit Lions have done today with Offensive Lineman Taylor Decker. According to Field Yates, the team is converting $6 million of his salary into a signing bonus, which will effectively free up $4.5 million in cap space, which gets them much closer to being under the salary cap.

The Lions have converted $6M of OT Taylor Decker’s base salary into a signing bonus, creating $4.5M in 2022 cap space, per source.

— Field Yates (@FieldYates) September 3, 2022

With so many young talents like TJ Hockenson, Deandre Swift, Amon Ra St. Brown and others, this team is going to have to be very smart with their cap going forward, because in the process of trying to rebuild into a winner, they're going to have to pay a hefty price to keep some of these names in Detroit. With Jared Goff earning so much money from the extension signed in Los Angeles, it's going to be a tough proposition, but under Dan Campbell, this team is looking more promising year after year, and if the owners and General Manager can be good with their money, this could be a competitive team in no time.

Either way, the Lions are finally looking like there's a light at the end of the tunnel, and if they continue to develop their young talent and make smart moves like they did today, we could see them in the playoffs again at some point over the next few seasons. 

Photo Credit: Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK