The Detroit Lions‘ Super Bowl hopes were shattered with a loss in their first playoff game of the season to the Washington Commanders. Now, the offseason is here, and the team has some tough decisions to make.
It’s that time of the year when teams are starting to look at which players are under contract and could be cut for the 2025. Cutting players who are under contract for the 2025 season, of course, can help with salary cap difficulties.
Top Lions Who Are NFL ‘Cut Candidates’
In a January 26 feature for Pro Football Network, NFL analyst and expert Ben Rolfe discusses certain Detroit Lions who could be on the chopping block during the offseason.
“Identifying cut candidates can be tough, especially with teams who are changing head coaches or coordinators, as it may shift philosophies and make players who were not valued before more valuable,” Rolfe stated.
While Rolfe spends most of his time in the piece talking about the possibility of the Lions cutting DL D.J. Reader, he also writes that he thinks wide receiver Kalif Raymond is an option.
Raymond’s 2025 cap number is $6.4 million, and his cap savings before June 1 is $3.3 million and after June 1 is $4.8 million.
As for some reaction to this idea, Ryan Love of USA Today’s Lions Wire notes in a January 27 feature that “Kalif Raymond has become a fan favorite in Detroit as is customary with the undersized, fairly successful kick returner.” It’s true that the idea of losing Raymond might hurt some Lions enthusiasts, because people simply like him.
Love adds that, “However, Raymond’s overall productivity could be cheaply replaced if the team felt like clearing a small amount of cap space in 2025.”
More Lions Cut Possibilities
In addition to Reader and Raymond, Rolfe also names Za’Darius Smith, EDGE, and Jalen Reeves-Maybin, LB, as possible cuts. Regarding Reeves-Maybin, the Lions need all the linebacker help they can get when that unit is injured, of course.
Fans might be particularly surprised by the Smith mention, since he was a big help when Aidan Hutchinson was injured and kind of saved the day for the Lions this season. Smith’s 2025 cap is $5.7 million.
While Love admits that Smith was really “the trade every Lions fan asked for,” he adds that bringing Smith on board “merely helped the team tread water rather than put them back near where Aidan Hutchinson had their ceiling early in the season.”
While Smith, he adds, “performed well,” Love also states that he believes the player “isn’t much of a game-breaker like his position demands. He and the rest of the defensive line were borderline nonexistent in the Lions’ loss to the Commanders, which ended their season.”
While it’s true that the Lions had a rough showing on defense during the Commanders loss, it’s worth noting that Smith absolutely still had some great games with the Detroit Lions.
Love also states that Smith is a “solid veteran who could be asked to stick around, but it wouldn’t cost much to let him go.”
