Lions to release slot corner Justin Coleman midway through $36 million deal, per report

Detroit is continuing to trim salary cap space

Like a number of clubs throughout the NFL, the Detroit Lions have been tasked with trimming down their salary cap to become compliant with the $182.5 million threshold that was firmed up by the league earlier this week. As things stood on Thursday afternoon, Detroit was still above that cap number by around $1.6 million. Now, however, the Lions will soon find themselves under that number as Tom Pelissero of the NFL Network reports the club is planning to release corner Justin Coleman in the coming days. 

By releasing Coleman, the Lions will clear roughly $5 million off their cap, which gets them under that $182.5 million maximum with a few million to spare. The 27-year-old was in the midst of a four-year, $36 million contract that he signed with Detroit back in 2019, which made him one of the highest-paid slot corners in the NFL. 

Coleman played 11 games during the 2020 season, missing five games due to a hamstring injury that landed him on IR. When on the field, he totaled 30 tackles and had one pass defended. Quarterbacks completed 77.8% of their passes when targeting Coleman last year and totaled a 135.0 passer rating. 

The Tennessee product went undrafted coming out of college in 2015 and eventually found his footing with the New England Patriots. He spent the first two seasons of his career with the organization and was a part of their Super Bowl LI-winning squad before being traded to the Seahawks in 2017. There, he worked as a reserve corner but proved to be a capable defensive back covering the slot. His efforts in Seattle then landed him in Detroit, inking that rather lucrative deal. 

Now, he'll jump back into the market while the Lions get their books in order.