Black Friday is the biggest shopping day of the year, and the NFL has now infiltrated it with a game carried by fairly new broadcast partner Amazon (an appropriate tie-in, with online shopping so prevalent).
For NFL teams, outside of a vaguely possible free agent signing to fill an unforeseen need, the significant shopping is basically over for this year. The biggest shopping day(s) on the league calendar come when free agency starts each March.
Over the last several months, the Detroit Lions have taken care of a lot of notable contract business. Big extensions for wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown, offensive tackle Penei Sewell and quarterback Jared Goff came between the first day of April's draft and mid-May. Offensive tackle Taylor Decker got a new deal as training camp started. Over the span of a few days in October, running back David Montgomery and defensive tackle Alim McNeill received contract extensions.
The Lions are not done with significant contracts, as expected when you've drafted as well as they have. Defensive end Aidan Hutchinson is lined up for a big extension soon, and a few others are lining themselves up to be paid handsomely on second contracts. Some tough decisions will have to be made.
Updated Detroit Lions cap space outlook on Black Friday 2024
These numbers are very fluid, can change very quickly and are subject to roll over from the previous year/annual increases in the league-wide salary cap that always come.
But according to Over The Cap, here's a current look at the Lions' salary cap space outlook for this year and a few years to come in honor of Black Friday 2024.
2024: $26,373,978 (fifth-most in the league)
2025: $62,061,023 (11th-most in the league)
2026: $21,027,832 (29th-most in the league)
2027: $123,090,543 (29th-most in the league)
In 2026 and 2027, currently sizeable cap hits from the new contracts Goff, Sewell, St. Brown, McNeill and Decker have signed will hit the Lions' balance sheet. It's possible, if not likely, some restructures will be done to make room for other looming significant contracts-which only further confirms how fluid cap space numbers/projections are, but these numbers should stay stationary for a few months.
