ALLEN PARK -- The Detroit Lions are still sitting on $29.45 million in cap space for next season. Good luck spending that.

A week into free agency, there simply aren’t that many players left who can command big money. It sure seems like Detroit will carry a lot of unused cash into the season. But remember, GM Bob Quinn loves to lock in his young talent too.

He’s done it several times over the years, inking guys like Theo Riddick, Sam Martin, Darius Slay and Matthew Stafford to long-term extensions in the summer before their contract years. And he tried to do it again last year with Golden Tate, but couldn’t quite get the deal done. Tate was eventually traded for a third-round pick, and recently signed a four-year deal worth $37.5 million with the New York Giants.

This year, there are two players who are headed into contract years who stand out as possible candidates for an extension.

Graham Glasgow -- A third-round pick in Quinn’s first draft class, and what a find he has turned out to be. He needed only a few weeks to overtake a former first-round pick (Laken Tomlinson) for the job at left guard, then missed just one snap the last two years combined. And that consistency has been huge for an offensive line that has otherwise been crushed by injuries. Glasgow isn’t exactly a star, so maybe the Lions opt to play out the contract year and see what’s what next offseason. But he’s tough and coachable and always available, and that’s the sort of lineman worth building around.

A’Shawn Robinson -- A second-round pick from that same draft class. He’s been more up and down over the years than Glasgow, and was even a healthy scratch to open last season. But perhaps no defender grew more from start to finish last year either. In fact, he finished the season ranked as the 11th-best interior defender according to ProFootballFocus -- an incredible feat for a guy who opened the season chained to the bench. Snacks Harrison was third, by the way, and rookie Da’Shawn Hand was 13th. That trio formed one of the best interior defenses in the league, and Detroit just might want to lock it in for the long term.

Among the other players headed into contract years, left tackle Taylor Decker is the most prominent. But the team holds a fifth-year option on his rookie deal, and expect them to pick it up by the May deadline. It’s guaranteed only for injury anyway. Just ask Eric Ebron about that, who had his option picked up and then was canned hours before it became guaranteed last year. At any rate, Decker is still at least a year away from being considered for any kind of long-term pact.

Other notable players who are headed into the final year of their deals: Running back Theo Riddick, special teams ace Miles Killebrew and linebacker Christian Jones.