Recent modifications to viewer audience metrics could significantly impact a team currently negotiating numerous contracts.
The draft has been the main way the Detroit Lions have built their team, but trades and adding free agents have also been big parts of their recent success.
As good as the Lions have been at picking players in the draft, it makes sense for them to sign players to new, longer contracts that keep them from leaving. The difference between great teams and good ones is that consistency on the pitch.
The price cap, on the other hand, makes high-level teams more equal. To be clear, the Lions are not in the same kind of danger as the New Orleans Saints right now. Over The Cap says that Detroit is about $40M below the current cap right now.
A lot of players, though, want to be rewarded for their hard work. If they can’t get the contracts they think they earn, star players and key depth players may start to look elsewhere. DEZA’s Darius Smith is a great example of this right now, since the Lions picked him up as a free agent in the middle of last season but still hasn’t signed him.
This news about a possible big increase in the pay cap in the next few years may have come at the best possible time for the company. Ryan Love of USA Today’s Lionswire recently wrote that Nielsen is changing how it counts the number of people who watch TV.
To begin, they have changed their “Out of Home” watching measure to better reflect real data, “covering 100% of the US contiguous population.” As the name suggests, this change makes things more fair for people who go to bars, restaurants, and other places, even ones with fewer people.
But that’s not all. Changes to the rating system were passed in November 2024 and again in January 2025. These changes made it possible to track live streams and get information from Smart TVs and satellites.
What does this mean for Lions? It was written by Love that the NFL will be renegotiating its TV deals in 2028. As long as the league can show that there are a lot more viewers using more full metrics, they will be able to charge enough to allow for a big rise in the salary cap.
With the salary cap going up, a change in how many fans the Lions get can help them a lot.
That means that some long-term deals that are being talked about right now, like the one for Lions DE Aidan Hutchinson, can be cleverly made to take advantage of that possible boost. It’s possible for teams across the league to carry over one or two contracts, which would allow them to sign other players to short-term deals. These are players that would have to be moved or let go otherwise.
This isn’t just about Hutchinson or Smith for Detroit. Star safety measures Brian Branch is one half of what is probably the best safety duo in the league right now. He will soon be able to command top dollar, just like Kerby Joseph has already.
There have been rumours about WR Jameson Williams getting a new deal all summer. RB Gets Electric There are also rumours that Jahmyr Gibbs is in talks for a new deal, and LB Alex Anzalone is in the middle of talks. Anzalone has long been known as a leader in the locker room and on the field.
So far, Lions’ GM Brad Holmes has done a good job of managing player contracts. Over the last two years, a lot of Lions players got paid. Some examples are quarterback Jared Goff, right tackle Penei Sewell, and running back David Montgomery.
Other teams have been struggling because of holdouts and nasty fights over contracts, but Holmes has just done his job and kept his locker room happy. But it can’t last forever. At some point, someone will feel like they didn’t get what they earn and leave the team.
The team will have some much-needed breathing room now that the Nielsen ratings have changed and the pay cap is likely to go up. The good times will last longer. That could make a huge difference in keeping enough of the core team together to help them reach their goal of winning the Super Bowl next year.
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