The Facts:
Johnson became the latest player to help the Lions with their cap crunch, agreeing to a simple contract restructure last week that frees up $3.428 million in cap room. Johnson converted all but $715,000 of his $5 million base salary into a signing bonus, which can be spread over five years for cap purposes.
Reported by USA Today
Fantasy Football Diehards Line:
After Johnson's restructure, the Lions have between $7-8 million in cap room, enough to sign their rookie class and a couple more low-level free agents. Meanwhile, quarterback Matthew Stafford and the Lions still haven't made any progress on a new long-term deal, and general manager Martin Mayhew said the team has been "very deliberate" in talks so far. "We haven't been pressing him," Mayhew said. "It's never been a sense of extreme urgency on our part that we had to rush and get something done. He's by no means putting the brakes on. It's just a process and this negotiation process is back and forth, so there's nothing out of the ordinary about it. There's nothing about the timetable that is surprising or disappointing. ..." Stafford has two years left on the rookie deal he signed as the No. 1 overall pick in the 2009 draft.
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