Note: This is an opinion piece by MLive.com's Nate Atkins.

ALLEN PARK -- For weeks, the Detroit Lions have reacted to the crippling state of their pass rush like the cartoon character in the photo of the burning house who is sitting patiently as everything goes up in flames.

Given the similar state of the free-agent market this summer, perhaps all they were waiting for was a very expensive shoe to drop. Now that Matthew Stafford has his record contract extension, the Lions ironically have more cap flexibility than they've had in months.

Stafford's five-year, $135 million deal did what contract restructurings do in a league with a salary cap that isn't all that hard: It created some room to breathe. By turning base salary into a signing bonus and moving it to future years on the deal, the Lions added $5.5 million in cap space to spend this season.

It creates a jump in available funds from $7.5 million to $12.5 million, notable because of the contract it could now allow the Lions to try to take on in a trade: Sheldon Richardson, the 26-year-old Pro Bowl defensive end and former first-round pick of the New York Jets, is set to make $8 million in a contract year.

It's a trade idea that could work because the Lions and Jets are the inverse of each other right now. Detroit has a franchise quarterback but no pass rush; New York has a pass rush but no franchise quarterback. The Lions can't waste any of the time they just bought for their star signal-caller; the Jets can't waste any time waiting around for one to fall into their laps. They have to find one the way the Lions found Stafford: by losing enough to pick first in the draft.

Opposites attract, and that principle sometimes best applies to the trade market.

The Lions need a pass rush in the worst way after finishing 30th in the league in sacks last season and then watching their leader in that category, Kerry Hyder, tear his Achilles this preseason. A former practice squad player, Hyder wasn't an exceptional athlete, but he broke out with eight sacks due to his versatility to move interchangeably from end to tackle in order to exploit matchups. It's a trait the Lions have started to love more ever since.

And it's what Richardson can offer far better than anyone else on Detroit's roster. At 6 feet 3 inches and 294 pounds, he's caught almost perfectly between the masses of end Ezekiel Ansah (275) and tackle A'Shawn Robinson (317). Starting at end, Richardson can load the edge against the run like Detroit requires in order to play two high safeties. He can then move inside on third downs to offer an interior rush unlike what the Lions ever saw last season, when Robinson and Haloti Ngata combined for 3.5 sacks. Richardson had eight in a Pro Bowl season in 2014.

These are theoretical fits, of course. The game doesn't always work that way with bigger bodies, but versatility is Richardson's calling card. It's what made him a 3-4 end who could switch from gap control to pass rushing and at times even chase the passer down as a stand-up linebacker.

The fact that the Jets ever asked a 294-pounder to be a rush linebacker illustrates that he's the one luxury they have left. Their other Pro Bowl defensive ends, Muhammad Wilkerson and Leonard Williams, have easier personalities to manage and offer multiple years left on their contracts.

Richardson is the type of player who could use a fresh start in a smaller market, and the Lions are in prime spot to place a call. It'll likely take a higher draft pick than the sixth-rounder they shipped out this summer for a reclamation project in left tackle Greg Robinson. Perhaps the Lions could look to deal Jake Rudock, a current target of trade buzz who has a ceiling in Detroit playing behind Stafford.

As comfortable as Robinson is starting to look, he doesn't erase the loss of Taylor Decker, and Richardson wouldn't work miracles either. If Ansah isn't healthy, Richardson won't be chasing down Aaron Rodgers on his lonesome.

But it's hard to build premium positions like left tackle or defensive end in free agency this late in the year. An affordable trade can be the swing a team has to consider now that it's staring into a window of contention with a franchise quarterback. Because when five years of one player cost $135 million, why waste any of it with a weakness you can't hide?