Lions, OL Halapoulivaati Vaitai rework deal to free up cap space

The Lions carved out a little extra cap room with help from Halapoulivaati Vaitai. On Tuesday, the Lions converted $1.335M of the offensive lineman’s base salary into a signing bonus, giving them an additional $1M in space for the rest of the year (Twitter link via Field Yates of ESPN.com).

The Lions aren’t playing for much at this point, but they may need a few bodies to close out the year. If the season ended today, the Lions (2-12-1) would hold the No. 2 overall pick in the draft, behind only the 2-13 Jaguars.

Vaitai joined the Lions in the 2020 offseason, scoring a shockingly large five-year, $50M deal. While quality offensive linemen are hard to find on the open market, no one expected that kind of deal for a player who had started just four games over the previous two years.

So far, the former Eagle hasn’t done much to justify his deal. Last year, he was limited to just 10 games and graded out as Pro Football Focus’ No. 51-ranked guard out of 80 qualified players. This year, it’s a similar story — he’s 49th out of 80. On the plus side, he’s been mostly healthy, starting in 14 games through 16 weeks.

The Lions will face the Seahawks on Sunday before wrapping the 2021 season against the Packers on Jan. 9.