Making the Early Calls on Detroit Lions' Questionable Contracts

The NFL offseason is the opposite of the holiday season.

There are no gifts. The only consideration paid is for the bottom line, which is wins and losses. Considering the Detroit Lions won't reach .500 for the 12th time in 14 years, all Christmas cheer should be scrapped for New Year's resolutions regarding smart roster management.

And that prudence will likely need to spill over to the coaching staff as well, but that's not the focus here.

The Lions are in a solid place with the salary cap, with about $20.5 million in cap space, per Spotrac. A bedrock of talent is locked up for another year, and a few key additions could see Detroit catapult back into postseason contention.

However, there are some uncomfortable conversations that need to happen first. The best approach to these moments is to dive right in and tell it like it is. So swallow that lump in your throat and click through.

CB Rashean Mathis

Duane Burleson/Associated Press

The city and the cornerback seemed destined for each other.

He was a 32-year-old defensive back who had put together a stellar career that looked to be coming to its natural end. The city, a once-great beacon of ingenuity and excess, had just filed for bankruptcy the month prior.

Yet Rashean Mathis and Detroit came together to create art as beautiful as anything the Renaissance witnessed. At least when observed through football lenses with a slight Honolulu Blue tint.

But the early success that Mathis enjoyed was unsustainable. Mathis is in the last year of a deal that will see him account for $1.875 million against the cap with only $375,000 worth of dead money (money that will count against next year's salary cap if he is released).

Nobody will be surprised if Mathis retires. While his cap obligation is low enough to justify another spin of the wheel next summer, the grim truth is injuries and ineffectiveness make it important that the Lions focus their efforts elsewhere.

LB Stephen Tulloch

Rick Osentoski/Associated Press

Detroit ended the debate early about Stephen Tulloch last year, opting to bring him back after ACL surgery despite a cap hit that had escalated to $5.8 million.

There will be no such saving graces for the middle linebacker this year. His cap obligations will climb to $7.3 million, an untenable level for a two-down player, especially when weighed against the $1.3 million in dead money.

Tulloch has been a fierce leader and injected life into a franchise that was still shaking off the charred remnants from a 2008 dumpster fire that scorched everything. And his play equaled that effort. He finished 2011 as the sixth-highest graded inside linebacker, per Pro Football Focus' grading system.

That year, he only allowed a 73.2 passer rating on throws targeting him in coverage. Now that number has spiked to 124.2, by virtue of the four touchdowns that have been tossed to his man, despite being taken off the field in obvious passing downs. Teams are actively changing plays at the line of scrimmage and targeting him when possible.

Perhaps the two can work out some deal to let him tryout next training camp, but he can't be back as much more than a bruiser against the running game. And it needs to be at a much lower price.

OT Riley Reiff

Jeff Haynes/Associated Press

Reilly Reiff has allowed the sixth-most sacks and quarterback hurries in the league. He's also set to have an $8 million cap hit in 2016, which would be the 17th-highest cap hit for an offensive tackle.

While he'll probably be supplanted by a few free-agent contracts this summer, that's still entirely too high.

Reiff has been somewhere between average and decent with some stinkers sprinkled in. He's never graded out higher than 26th among offensive tackles, a feat he accomplished in 2014.

The kicker? None of that $8.07 million is guaranteed for 2016. The Lions can cut bait with the former first-rounder without having to count a single dollar against the cap.

Detroit could attempt some type of restructure deal. Reiff would take a pay reduction commiserate with his value, and the Lions would get more cap relief and competition at the tackle position against whomever is brought in via free agency or the draft.

That last scenario would bring about the best resolution for all, but keeping Reiff on with his current contract will be impossible.

RB Joique Bell

Jose Juarez/Associated Press

Good teams make hard decisions all the time, jettisoning franchise icons and lesser beloved players when the price and production don't mesh.

Bill Belichick and John Madden players are famous for these moves. They trust themselves to find a replacement for a fraction of the price and are bold enough to be one year early rather than one year late. 

Fortunately for Joique Bell, his place may be safe because of his lower price tag than most of these cap casualties. And he brings intangibles to the franchise in the form of leadership and grit.

Bell is set to account for $3.5 million in the last year of his deal, with $1 million worth of dead money stuffed in that salary. His 3.5-yard average isn't worth that number, but the value of cutting him and then drafting or signing someone to take his place will likely only net the Lions $1 million in cap space.

At a minimum, he should stick around until next August, and make somebody force the Lions to cut him.

WR Calvin Johnson

Rick Osentoski/Associated Press

What are the Lions paying Calvin Johnson to do?

If the answer is to be the face of the franchise in terms of public relations and team leadership, he's worth every penny. If the answer is to be a consistently dominating force in the passing game, his $24 million cap hit is too hefty.

Johnson isn't Megatron often enough to justify that number. And even Megatron at his height might not be worth the fifth-highest cap hit in the league.

The most often-cited option is the Larry Fitzgerald route. When the Arizona Cardinals veteran was set to account for $23.6 million with $14.4 million worth of dead money, the two sides negotiated a new four-year deal that cut his cap hit to $10 million but did raise the guaranteed money to $36.4 million. He'll have a $15.8 million hit next season before that number drops down to $4.8 million.

Johnson is carrying $12.9 million worth of dead money next season. The middle could be an excellent meeting ground considering Johnson piled up 1,077 yards and eight scores this season. He's still an incredibly valuable offensive component when used properly.

There's relatively little chance that Johnson isn't in a Lions uniform, but it will probably come at a drastically different pay grade. We won't know for another two years, however, if the bet was worth the payout considering Johnson's ever-iffy health.

All advanced stats, grades and positional rankings are courtesy of Pro Football Focus.

Brandon Alisoglu is a Detroit Lions Featured Columnist. He also co-hosts a Lions-centric podcast, Lions Central Radio. Yell at him on Twitter @BrandonAlisoglu.