Getty Jamie Collins reacts after a play against Washington.
The Detroit Lions are pushing toward the offseason and as preparation for that, the team has to find a way to create more money to get some of their deals done for 2021.
Thus far, there’s bee a few releases, but the team will also be doing at least one restructure to save them some space. According to Mike Garafolo of the NFL Network, the Lions will be restructuring the deal of linebacker Jamie Collins for 2021.
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While there’s not a set amount of money that the contract will drop at this point, Garafolo reports that the Lions will be paying Collins significantly less than the $11.3 million he was set to count against the cap this season. He’ll get $9 million in money, but the cap hit will go down.
Detroit will be releasing cornerback Desmond Trufant to save them around $6 million when the new league year begins, so this savings will do even more to help their cap total in the days ahead. The Lions have to find a way to keep Kenny Golladay around, which could be the impetus for these pair of moves.
It will be interesting to see if any other players get restructured. Given Detroit’s cap crunch, more moves such as this and the release could be coming in the days ahead.
Lions 2021 Cap Space
At the moment, the lions are looking at about -$6 million or so in cap space based on a cap floor of $180 million, which has been said to be the total the league is looking at. While full salary details are not yet known, the carryover space means the Lions could be working with just around $6 million in cap space for next season at this very moment in time. Adding in the expected release total from Trufant of $6 million and this move could mean the team could pull themselves out of a hole.
The Lions can make plenty of moves to expand their cap situation in the coming days. Some other expensive players who could figure to be on the bubble to get released? Tight end Jesse James, cornerback Justin Coleman and possibly defensive lineman Danny Shelton.
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Jamie Collins Stats
Collins has been a solid performer in the NFL for years. He started with the Patriots where he got to know Matt Patricia, and later was traded to the Cleveland Browns for a few seasons before he got released and signed back in New England.
In terms of production, Collins has been solid as well. Collins has put up 577 tackles, 24.5 sacks and registered 16 forced fumbles as well as 10 interceptions in his career. He’s been a terror in terms of his ability to come off the edge and make a variety of plays for a defense. In his first season in Detroit, Collins put up 101 tackles, 1 sack and 1 interception and proved he could still be a solid and effective player for the most part.
Clearly, the Lions didn’t want to pay Collins what their former front office did last offseason, so this move to slash back salary was made.
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