The team has room to pass

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TO CLOSE

Dave Birkett divides Monday, March 11, 2019 the Detroit Lions' first day of free competition.
Detroit Free Press

Even after a big first day of free agency, the Detroit The Lions have left enough room with their salary cap to make one more flight last.

The Lions have set low ceilings for the first year in the new contracts they have awarded to Trey Flowers and Jesse James, who should give them the freedom to sign or trade a junior player, if such an option became available.

Flowers, the first line of defense on the market, has signed a five-year, $ 90 million contract with a ceiling of $ 6.149 million this fall.

Jesse James is attacked by the Raiders defensemen last season. (Photo: Ben Margot, AP)

James, considered by most to be the smallest group in the market, has signed a four-year, $ 28.5 million sales contract, including a fifth annulable year to facilitate accounting.

James is the second player that Lions used a cancelable year last week. They signed a two-year extension of restricted free agent Romeo Okwara with a similar structure that spreads the signature bonus limit.

James received a signing bonus of $ 7.145 million under full warranties of $ 10.5 million. He has a low base salary in the first year – a minimum of $ 805,000 for a veteran – plus a $ 50,000 training bonus.

Because James 'contract includes a year 2023 that he will never see – the contract is canceled if James remains in Lions' lineup five days after the Super Bowl League 2022 – the signing bonus is prorated over five years instead of four. $ 1.429 million per season.

Okwara had a signing bonus of $ 2.705 million over three years.

Jesse James was a fifth-round pick by the Steelers at Penn State in 2015. (Photo: Sam Greene, AP)

Contracts are designed to leave Lions with unused money in the future, after the expiry of the current collective agreement, when the cap could increase dramatically again. But they could also help Lions in the short term.

Even if no major independent agent agreement or signature materializes, Lions have sufficient funds to cover a potential extension for Graham Glasgow Center or to carry additional space until 2020.

The Lions entered the bargaining season with Monday's free agents with over $ 40 million in reserves after Nevin Lawson was released. Flowers, James and wide receiver Danny Amendola have a combined cap for 2019 of about $ 12.9 million. The hits of Zach Zenner and Justin Coleman are not yet known.

Here are all the details of James' contract