Resetting the Lions salary cap ahead of the start of the 2025 NFL New Year.
The NFLPA announced the final salary cap adjustments for each NFL team as they head into the 2025 league new year. With the last step to finalize the salary cap completed, the Detroit Lions end up with even more spending room than previously anticipated.
To fully understand how much spending money an NFL team has in any given year, you need to understand the three components that factor into a team’s final amount for each season. While all teams operate under the same league-wide base salary cap, the spending amount each team has can vary based on “salary cap rollover” and “end of season adjustments” from the previous year.
NFL salary cap
Every offseason, the NFL and NFLPA calculate a CBA-agreed upon formula to determine the NFL’s salary cap for the upcoming season. Multiple factors go into this formula — things like how much profit did the NFL generate, TV deals, etc… — and a new limit is agreed upon.
In 2025, the NFL salary cap is: $279.2 million
Team-based salary cap rollover
Once the base number is established, the NFL examines each team’s spending from last season and determines how much was left over. Teams are then permitted to apply that surplus amount to the following season, adding it to the base salary cap limit.
The Lions had a surplus of $23,638,725 from 2024 that they could roll over to the 2025 salary cap. This gives the Lions a new salary cap limit for the upcoming season.
$279,200,000 + $23,638,725 = $302,838,725
End of season adjustments
The final step in the process is to determine any adjustments that need to be made based on player bonuses that were achieved or not met. Adding contract bonuses into player contracts is a way for players to earn additional income based on performance and each bonus falls into one of two categories: Likely to be earned (LTBE) and not likely to be earned (NLTBE). Which category a player’s bonus falls into is based on the player’s previous season.
For example, if Player A registers 10 sacks in 2023 and his contract offers an incentive bonus of $1 million if he achieves 10 sacks in 2024, that would be considered a bonus that was likely to be earned (LTBE). On the same note, if Player B registers five sacks in 2023 and has an incentive bonus of $1 million if he can achieve 10 sacks in 2024, that would be considered not likely to be earned (NLTBE).
Ahead of each season, all LTBE bonuses are factored into a player’s cap hit and the team is expected to pay the bonuses with the expectation that the player will earn the bonus. However, if the player fails to achieve the bonus, the team would be credited (via “adjustment”) with the paid money in the following season. In our above example, if Player A has LTBE bonus of $1 million that was paid in 2024, but he failed to achieve the bonus, the team would be credited $1 million in 2025.
The reverse is also true for NLTBE bonuses. If Player B earns his incentive, because it was not paid in 2024, the team would then have to pay the bonus out and it would count against their 2025 salary cap.
During the adjustment phase of determining the salary cap, the NFL sorts through every player’s contract, examines the LTBE and NLTBE bonuses and determines if teams paid too much or too little in the previous season.
With the 2024 adjustments completed, it was determined by the NFL that the Lions overpaid $3,637,300. That means they will get a credit for that amount in 2025 and will see their salary cap spending potential increase even more than anticipated.
$279,200,000 + $23,638,725 + $3,637,300 = $306,476,025
Lions salary cap room heading into 2025
With the sixth-highest salary cap amount in the NFL, the Lions have a lot of room to work with. They enter the New Year with approximately $223 million allocated to current player contracts and another near $19 million in dead cap—this does include the money set aside for Cam Sutton arbitration, which has not been settled by our knowledge.
With $306 million available and around $242 million accounted for, the Lions have around $64 million in cap space.
Now, it’s important to recognise these numbers DO NOT include the Lions’ new player additions (D.J. Reed and Roy Lopez contracts have yet to be processed and will be added to the amount), and the Lions will set aside money for their upcoming draft class (estimated to add another $8.5 million to the cap, per OverTheCap ), as well as earmark funds for in-season spending (another $10-15 million) and potential rollover amounts for 2026.
The salary cap can be a complicated and ever-changing entity, and the Lions have done a terrific job in positioning themselves to keep their options open, while also helping them plan and prepare for the future of the organization.