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Dawn Aponte Reportedly Staying In Miami; Previous Reports Linked Her To Detroit

By Ashley Scoby
@AshleyScoby

Previous reports from CBS Sports and Fox Sports indicated Dolphins chief contract negotiator Dawn Aponte was on her way to Detroit to oversee the Lions' cap. But now, those reports have been challenged and, in one case, retracted.

Aponte has 25 years of NFL experience, including with Miami, where she was is currently vice president of football administration. She is the Dolphins' chief contract negotiator, and responsible for daily business/administration operations, football operations budgets and dealing with labor relations issues.

Previously, Lions president Rod Wood has said he would handle the financial side of the Lions organization, while Quinn would run anything football-related. Wood, however, has never worked in football before and has no experience with the salary cap.

When Quinn was hired, Wood said that the new GM could handle salary cap issues.

"We wanted somebody who could take on the whole football operation – cap included , so that was not critical but important and we did discuss it in all our interviews," Wood said at the time. "I will certainly be interested in the cap and the cash spending as it pertains to what we plan for the financial side but ultimately in how it's used and the way we used it to sign our football team, that's up to Bob."

One of the biggest issues the Lions will face, no matter who is in charge of overseeing the cap, is Calvin Johnson's contract, should he decide not to retire. He inflicts a $24 million cap hit next year, and he still has one of the richest contracts in the NFL. If Johnson decides to keep playing football, restructuring that deal will likely be in the cards.

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