The Lions have holes to fill this offseason, and money to spend. They'll just spend most of it on their own players.
That was the indication Monday from general manager Brad Holmes, who said the Lions are going to follow "the same process and the same plan" as their last three offseasons, especially with some hefty extensions coming down the pike. That is, they'll be "very strategic, very selective" and their biggest additions are likely to come via the draft, where they have four picks in the top 100.
This is the same process and the same plan, mind you, that brought one of the saddest sacks in professional sports from last to second to first in the NFC North, from three wins to nine to a franchise-best 14 including the playoffs, from irrelevance to the national spotlight and the doorstep of the Super Bowl. When Holmes says the Lions are "still building," he means they'll never stop acquiring good players. He's already drafted multiple cornerstones every year.
The Lions currently have about $61 million in cap space, per Spotrac, seventh most in the NFL. But they have to budget for big-money extensions for the likes of quarterback Jared Goff, receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown and possibly defensive tackle Alim McNeill this offseason alone, which will limit what they do on the open market. Those three, on their next contracts, will cost the Lions close to $100 million per year.
Both of Detroit's starting guards also need new deals in Jonah Jackson and Graham Glasgow, and the offensive line, "as good as it has been in the past, is definitely going to be a point of emphasis still," said Holmes. It has to be in an offense built around Goff and the ground game. By the time free agency rolls around, Detroit's pool of spending money won't be as deep as it looks now.
"I mean, look, it’s one pot," said Holmes. "It’s one pot, so you have to be very strategic with those finances -- that’s what makes the league as great as it is. But you have to be very strategic of how that pot is divided or divvied up. But we’ll be smart and we’ll make the right moves. It just changes the landscape a little bit in free agency."
The Lions will make external improvements. Planning ahead doesn't preclude them from upgrading now. They have pressing needs on the defensive line and at cornerback, the aforementioned holes to fill on the offensive line and they could use a big-bodied receiver. For a team whose competitive window is open, only so many of these issues can be solved in the draft. Contenders need hired guns.
But outside additions will likely have to come on short-term deals, like Detroit did last year with defensive backs C.J. Gardner-Johnson and Emmanuel Moseley. The Lions also handed out a pair of three-year deals to cornerback Cam Sutton and running back David Montgomery for a total of $51 million, but "this year," said Holmes, "will be a little bit different."
"Maybe not as many high-price external adds, but that’s not required right now," he said. "So we’ll just keep sticking to our plan and go as normal. I think it’s proven that it’s worked so far for us.”
There's no debating that.