10:30pm
The months of May and June are a fairly boring time of year for the NFL. The Draft has concluded and teams are just beginning to sign their draft picks and it's no different for the Lions. They do, however, have a very good track record of getting their rookie draft picks signed before the start of training camp. Over the last three years, only one rookie wasn't signed before the start of training camp, Calvin Johnson. He missed one or two days last year, but that was only because he had a very complicated contract that needed to be written and once it was done, he was at camp. 75% of drafted rookies don't sign a contract until after July 4th. The start of training camp is at the end of July and there is nothing that can be gained by signing rookies at the end of June/early July that they'd lose if they were to sign the week before training camp.
Over the past month the Lions have released seven players and placed one player on injured reserve. This freed up eight roster spots and the Lions will need one more spot before they can officially sign all of the rookie draft picks. On June 17th, the Lions released Darrell Blackman, Justin Sanders and Ronyell Whitaker. On June 23rd, Allen Ervin, Greg Lee, Jonathan Lewis and Buck Reed were released. On the 24th of June, Shemiah Legrande was placed on Injured Reserve and is officially done for the season. None of these transactions had an impact on the Lions salary cap status.
Showing posts with label Greg Lee. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Greg Lee. Show all posts
Friday, July 4, 2008
Friday, May 30, 2008
May Transactions
11:25am
The Lions have made a couple of moves in the 2nd half of May, but their roster remains maxed out at 80 players. Recently signed players have about one more month to impress the coaching staff as nine players will be released to free up roster spots to sign the recently drafted rookies. Recently drafted rookies receive a roster exemption until they sign a contract.
The Lions signed Greg Lee (WR) and UDFA Shemiah Legrande (DT) to one year contracts for the league minimum ($295,000). They also released Clark Harris and Isreal Route. They had both originally signed contracts on the 1st of January. The above transactions have a minimal effect on the Lions salary cap (less than $10,000).
Kalimba Edwards - When Edwards was released by the Lions in March, he was designated as a June 1st release. On Monday, June 2nd, the Lions will reap the rewards of that designation when they get an additional $4M of cap space for the current year with $2M of dead cap in 2009. The freed up cap space will be used to sign the bulk of the rookie draft picks.
$4M will not be enough to sign all of the rookie draft picks. Look for the Lions to make at least one significant move to free up cap space before training camp, either in the form of a significant cut, an extension for a player like Jason Hanson, Roy Williams or Dominic Raiola or a contract restructure of Cory Redding. One way or another the Lions will need to free up some cap space before they sign all of their rookie draft picks.
As of Monday, June 2nd, the Lions are about $3.9M under the salary cap.
The Lions have made a couple of moves in the 2nd half of May, but their roster remains maxed out at 80 players. Recently signed players have about one more month to impress the coaching staff as nine players will be released to free up roster spots to sign the recently drafted rookies. Recently drafted rookies receive a roster exemption until they sign a contract.
The Lions signed Greg Lee (WR) and UDFA Shemiah Legrande (DT) to one year contracts for the league minimum ($295,000). They also released Clark Harris and Isreal Route. They had both originally signed contracts on the 1st of January. The above transactions have a minimal effect on the Lions salary cap (less than $10,000).
Kalimba Edwards - When Edwards was released by the Lions in March, he was designated as a June 1st release. On Monday, June 2nd, the Lions will reap the rewards of that designation when they get an additional $4M of cap space for the current year with $2M of dead cap in 2009. The freed up cap space will be used to sign the bulk of the rookie draft picks.
$4M will not be enough to sign all of the rookie draft picks. Look for the Lions to make at least one significant move to free up cap space before training camp, either in the form of a significant cut, an extension for a player like Jason Hanson, Roy Williams or Dominic Raiola or a contract restructure of Cory Redding. One way or another the Lions will need to free up some cap space before they sign all of their rookie draft picks.
As of Monday, June 2nd, the Lions are about $3.9M under the salary cap.
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