Although the Lions went 9-8 and missed the playoffs, they have a champagne problem approaching on their roster. The 2023 draft produced four impact starters, delivering Jahmyr Gibbs, Jack Campbell, Sam LaPorta and Brian Branch. All are now extension-eligible, with Gibbs and Campbell having fifth-year options that could move their contracts through 2027. Brad Holmes views all four as priorities.
“When me and Dan (Campbell} first started we said we’re going to take the path of draft, develop and sign our own, and I do think that, that has worked so far in terms of getting us to this point,” the sixth-year GM said (via the Detroit Free Press’ Dave Birkett), specifying Branch and LaPorta’s injuries do not affect their long-term statuses. “So yeah, those guys are priorities because they’re really good players. They represent everything that we’re about. So yeah, I would say that those are all priorities.”
Our Adam La Rose tackled this issue in a recent mailbag, and while it might be unrealistic for the Lions to retain all four, Holmes voicing support for it is interesting given the commitments the team has already made to core performers. The Lions have extended Amon-Ra St. Brown, Penei Sewell, Jared Goff, Taylor Decker, Alim McNeill, Jameson Williams and Aidan Hutchinson since April 2024. Gibbs has come up as a 2026 extension candidate, while Branch is unlikely to be paid in the offseason due to his December Achilles tear. Jack Campbell’s case is trickier due to no off-ball LB’s option being exercised since the Buccaneers’ Devin White move in 2022, but Campbell being a first-team All-Pro may change the equation. Otherwise, he would join Branch and LaPorta as contract-year players in 2026.
Here is the latest out of Detroit:
- Taylor Decker is planning to take multiple months to consider playing an 11th season. We heard in December Decker was considering retirement. The 10-year Lions left tackle played through a shoulder injury all season. “I need to make informed decisions,” Decker said, via Birkett. “I need to get second opinions. There’s a lot that I have to do, because I want to make this decision moving forward informed. And I don’t want to make it emotionally because if I make it emotionally, I already know what the answer is going to be.” Decker, who missed three games this season, is signed through 2027 via the three-year, $60MM deal he inked in 2024. The 32-year-old blocker has started 140 games, being part of a few top-tier Lions O-lines.
- Graham Glasgow and Dan Skipper are also considering walking away, according to Birkett. A back injury has prompted Skipper, 31, to consider retiring after nine NFL seasons. Sixty-six of the backup tackle’s 69 career games have come with Detroit. Glasgow could retire, per Birkett, if the Lions ditch his contract. Glasgow, who returned to Detroit in 2023 and succeeded Frank Ragnow at center this season, is due a nonguaranteed $6.5MM in the final year of his three-year, $20MM contract.
- Ragnow returned to the news cycle briefly in preparing to unretire, but a failed physical nixed that. The Lions did not go into last year’s draft knowing their All-Pro center would walk away, Holmes said (via ESPN.com’s Eric Woodyard). While Holmes acknowledged the team knew a Ragnow retirement was in play, he did not let the team know until May. Ragnow, 29, is expected to remain retired.
- LaPorta’s third season ended after Week 10 due to back surgery, but the extension candidate said (via Woodyard) he is aiming to be ready for OTAs. While Dan Campbell yanked the play sheet from OC John Morton before eventually firing him, LaPorta was on pace for his best season during the one-and-done OC’s time calling the shots. LaPorta averaged a career-best 54.3 yards per game in 2025.
- The Lions want to re-sign Alex Anzalone, according to ESPN.com’s Jeremy Fowler, but the veteran linebacker returning is being pegged as a 50-50 proposition. With a Campbell extension perhaps in the offing and the Lions having given Derrick Barnes a three-year, $24MM deal (which calls for $8MM guaranteed in 2026), money might be too tight to give Anzalone another deal. The ex-Saints draftee has been with the Lions throughout Campbell and Holmes’ five-year stays. An extension for Anzalone, 32, did not come up for the Lions last year.
I doubt Campbell being a first team All-Pro will change the equation on his fifth year option much, because the problem with the equation is position valuation. Like with the franchise tag, off-ball linebackers are lumped in with edge rushers who are technically linebackers like TJ Watt, which drives the price too high. The fifth year option for Campbell is going to be something like $2 million more than any off-ball linebacker makes per year. It’s the same reason the Eagles were never going to franchise Baun last year. They should just extend him instead of messing around with the option.