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Detroit Lions salary cap space: How much can Brad Holmes spend in NFL free agency?
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- Detroit Lions salary cap space: How much can Brad Holmes spend in NFL free agency?
The Detroit Lions have a chunk of available money and some big decisions on the horizon in the 2025 NFL offseason.
The NFL and players' association agreed to a salary cap of $279.2 million for the 2025 season, an increase of $23.8 million from the 2024 NFL salary cap. The NFL salary cap has increased by over $100 million since 2018.
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The Lions have the ninth-most effective cap space at $48.8 million entering the 2025 offseason, according to Over The Cap , which officially begins on Wednesday when free agency opens.
Detroit Lions general manager Brad Holmes speaks during the NFL Scouting Combine at the Indiana Convention Center, Feb. 25, 2025.
Detroit has some things to weigh regarding contract extensions for players on rookie contracts now eligible for a second deal, like Aidan Hutchinson , Kerby Joseph and Jameson Williams , and have to decide whether or not to bring back pending free agents like Carlton Davis III, Kevin Zeitler , Levi Onwuzurike and Derrick Barnes .
Some of that space could get eaten quickly or reserved for projected big-money contracts for Hutchinson and the other players from the 2022 draft class who have been key starters during Detroit's two-year run at the top of the NFC North.
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As it stands now, the Lions are projected to have $9 million in effective cap space in 2026 according to Over The Cap . The Lions have already given long extensions to Jared Goff , Amon-Ra St. Brown , Penei Sewell and Alim McNeill and shorter extensions for David Montgomery and Taylor Decker .
At the NFL draft combine, general manager Brad Holmes told reporters that the Lions would likely not be big spenders in free agency or acquiring a big name through a trade. That is because of the organization's priority to re-sign the talent they acquired in past NFL drafts, such as the 2022 draft class members, or saving money to keep Jahmyr Gibbs , Jack Campbell , Sam LaPorta and Brian Branch under contract from the 2023 draft class next offseason.
"I mean, obviously the free agency component, because we have so much that's upcoming, I don't really foresee us being – I don't know what the line is of big spenders in free agency," Holmes told reporters at the combine. "I know that you guys have questioned me in the past about how much – what is a big spender for agency? Well, a $6 million guy, an $8 million, $10 million, $12 million, that's not pocket change, which we've done that in the past. So I don't know if that's the $15 (million) or $20 (million), I don't know what that number is, but obviously it does put a limit to how much you can actually spend externally in free agency when you're trying to keep your guys that you know."
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Lions cap space: How much they can spend in NFL free agency
