After losing to the Washington Commanders in the Divisional Round, the Detroit Lions are starting their offseason much earlier than they had intended. They won the No. 1 seed in the playoffs after a 15-win regular season, but they won’t even win in the tournament.

The Lions handled a number of noteworthy contract matters for its primary players (Amon-Ra St. Brown, Penei Sewell, Jared Goff, and Taylor Decker) during the previous offseason. As players selected by the Brad Holmes/Dan Campbell regime continue to graduate into second contracts that more accurately reflect their performance, the upcoming offseasons will be more of the same.

Thus, free agency will have to make some difficult choices based on the notion that “you can’t pay everyone.” Even with a salary cap as good as