The Lions' 2026 Salary Cap Situation is Another Reason for Them to Go All-In for the 2025 Season

2025 may be their best shot to change that as they could need to begin making sacrifices in 2026.

Detroit Lions on SI's Christian Booher recently wrote an article about the cap difficulties that could be ahead of the Lions in 2026.

Booher pointed out that according to OverTheCap, the Lions are projected to be $54.4 million over the cap in 2026.

The number is a bit misleading because it includes a $16.4 million cap hit for Frank Ragnow, who won't be a factor in the salary cap because of his retirement.

However, there are also some things it doesn't factor in. Alex Anzalone is on the last year of his deal and so are three of the team's corners. So are D.J. Reader and Levi Onwuzurike.

The team's cap situation also isn't going to become any easier to navigate as the team's big extensions start piling up.

There are ways the team can rework contracts to improve the cap situation, but the fact remains that it will never be easier for them to accrue talent on their roster than it is right now.

Obviously, they still need to be smart about it, but there are clear things they can do to give themselves a better chance to win right now.

The first would be bringing in Za'Darius Smith or any other edge rusher who could improve their pass rush for the 2025 season and take some pressure off of Aidan Hutchinson in his first year back from his injury.

They could also still add Will Hernandez to give their offensive line some more stability as they try to move on from both Ragnow and Kevin Zeitler.

The Lions should also be ready to make a trade during the season if guys become available who can help them on their playoff push.

They have all of the cap space they need to make that happen as the team with the league's second-most space for 2025.

The NFC is there to be won this season, but the Lions need to grab a hold of the opportunity.

Otherwise they may find themselves slipping out of contention in 2026 and 2027, wondering why they didn't push harder for the pinnacle of the league when they had a chance.

In my opinion, there is no value to just consistently being a playoff team without ever at least making it to the Super Bowl. The Lions should be conducting themselves as if that's the case.