20man: The future is bright. I say that because look at the ages of the players they've re-signed recently. All core players and some of the best at their position in the league – Penei Sewell (25 years old), Amon-Ra St. Brown (26), Aidan Hutchinson (25), Kerby Joseph (24), Alim McNeill (25), Jameson Williams (24), Derrick Barnes (26), David Montgomery (28) and even Jared Goff at 31 years old is in his prime for an NFL quarterback with a lot left in the tank.
As for the future, there are bills coming due, no doubt, for players like Brian Branch, Jahmyr Gibbs and Sam LaPorta to name a few. The nice thing is the salary cap has gone up $55 million in the last two years alone and is expected to grow as the league renegotiates new streaming and television deals.
President and CEO Rod Wood, COO Mike Disner and their staff are very forward thinking with salary cap considerations in mind and projecting the cap. There are also mechanisms in place to convert base salary to signing bonuses to create space and the franchise tag.
This is a draft, develop and re-sign culture in Detroit and this current leadership puts an emphasis on taking care of their own. They'll find a way to keep as many as those players as they can and supplement the roster with the draft and selective free agents to maintain the standard and the culture that's been built.