In extending Jack Campbell and Jahmyr Gibbs, the Lions have checked off two key contract items from their offseason to-do list. While both first-rounders from Detroit’s impact 2023 draft class have been paid, the second-rounders — Sam LaPorta and Brian Branch — are entering contract years.
The team may well go into the season with both unsigned for 2027, with Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer noting deals with Branch and LaPorta are not close at this time. Both players are coming off season-ending injuries, and the Lions have shown a willingness under GM Brad Holmes to complete big-ticket extensions in-season.
Detroit gave Aidan Hutchinson a monster extension midway through last season, and the team paid defensive lineman Alim McNeill during the 2024 slate. The Lions have generally been proactive with extensions under Holmes and Dan Campbell, and they also used the late-summer window to pay Jameson Williams despite two years remaining on the wide receiver’s rookie contract. The Lions paid Williams, Gibbs and Penei Sewell before the first-rounders’ fourth seasons, and they extended All-Pros Amon-Ra St. Brown and Kerby Joseph months before their contract years. Less time remains on the Branch and LaPorta fronts.
Holmes said in March that LaPorta and Branch remain in the team’s big-picture plans, and we heard in May the team indeed wants to work out an extension with the productive tight end. Breer adds Branch and LaPorta are both seen as key parts of the Lions’ future, and just more than a month remains until Detroit’s season opener.
LaPorta avoided the active/PUP list after missing the second half of last season due to a back injury that required surgery. Thanks to Tyler Linderbaum‘s monster free agency agreement, tight end is strangely the only non-specialist position without a $20MM-per-year deal. The Lions may be interested in seeing how LaPorta looks upon return from his back procedure as well, but LaPorta joins the Packers’ Tucker Kraft as candidates to finally break the $20MM-AAV barrier at the position (well, before Brock Bowers resets the market when he becomes extension-eligible).
Branch’s case is more complicated, as he suffered an Achilles tear in December. The All-Pro remains on the Lions’ active/PUP list, but Detroit may have a bigger concern with Joseph. A degenerative knee condition has the ballhawk iffy for Week 1, after it cost him 11 games last season. Although Branch is weeks away from practicing — placing him as a candidate for the reserve/PUP list to open the season — the versatile DB showing full health could prompt the Lions to act.
Joseph secured $8.74MM of his 2027 compensation guaranteed; another $3MM locks in on Day 3 of the 2027 league year. The Lions made Joseph the NFL’s highest-paid safety at the time of signing, but they have seen the former third-rounder run into a concerning injury issue since. Branch, who could also be a 2027 franchise tag candidate, may also factor in more prominently into Detroit’s extension plans depending on Joseph’s recovery. The Lions are not expected to extend Branch before the season, but a deal coming together once he recovers from Achilles surgery remains in play.
Elsewhere on the Lions’ payroll, the Gibbs contract’s full numbers on the RB-record three-year, $67.5MM extension are out. The dual-threat running back secured salary guarantees through the 2028 season, with Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio indicating the Lions agreed to a rolling guarantee structure regarding the 2029 campaign. Detroit guaranteed $11.5MM of Gibbs’ $22.25MM 2029 base salary for injury at signing; that will shift to a full guarantee on Day 3 of the 2028 league year, per OverTheCap. Gibbs’ 2030 compensation is nonguaranteed.
A total of $4.13MM in escalators is also present in the pact for each of the 2029 and ’30 seasons, per Florio. Gibbs’ earnings on that front will be tied to a threshold of 800 receiving yards and another for that level of passing game production coupled with Detroit reaching at least the divisional round of the playoffs. Gibbs set a new career high in receiving yardage (616) last season, and an increased workload moving forward could lead to more opportunities through the air.
Adam La Rose contributed to this post.