The Detroit Lions, for mostly better but at times worse, have made a firm commitment to retain players this regime has drafted and developed. As four key members of the 2023 draft class move toward lucrative second contracts, the team has checked one of those boxes, agreeing to a deal with Jack Campbell that will make him the second-highest paid off-ball linebacker in the NFL.
It's a matter of when, not if, the Lions make Jahmyr Gibbs one of the highest-paid, if not the highest-paid, running back in the league. Based on recent history, an announcement of that deal may be coming soon.
Elsewhere, the Lions may have a bit more urgency to get new deals done with tight end Sam LaPorta and safety Brian Branch. As second-round picks in 2023, they are both entering the final year of their rookie contract. Both also have strong cases to become among the highest-paid at their positions.
By it's sheer existence, even as it increases every year, the NFL salary cap says you literally can't pay everyone. The Lions are sure going to try to do it though, aren't they?
That said, the burden of big second contracts will fade a lot (if not completely) for a bit once the four stars of the 2023 draft class are accounted for.
Brian Branch's name stands out as latest slew of Lions' contract extensions come to fruition
As Mike Payton of AtoZ Sports noted, in the wake of Campbell's contract extension, making Branch one of the league's highest-paid safeties would hypothetically give the Lions the third-highest paid secondary in the NFL.
'Right now, the Lions are paying their secondary a lot. It accounts for $52,984,135 of the Lions’ cap spending. The only thing they’ve spent more money on is their offensive line at $53,486,108. This is all before a Brian Branch extension."
"That’s a lot. Now, let’s talk about the possibility of the Lions making Branch one of the highest-paid safeties in the NFL. The likely extension would be something like a four-year deal worth $92 million. That would make him the top-five highest-paid safety. He’d be the third highest paid, to be exact."
"Now, add AAV of $23 million, and you can see how the Lions are spending more on their secondary than any other group."
Of course there are other layers to Branch's situation. While there's a chance he makes a fast recovery, he is working his way back from an Achilles' tear he suffered late last season. The Lions surely want to see how he looks in game action before making a multi-year commitment that's likely to land in the $20 million per-year range.
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Branch has also show a propensity for drawing the attention from the league office, with 15 fines for on-field infractions over three seasons. A good portion of those fines have been related to illegal hits (impermissible use of the helmet, hitting a defenseless receiver, etc.), but he has also notably shown questionable judgement a few times.
Do the Lions want to make a multi-year, $20-plus million commitment to a player who's coming off a major injury? Beyond that, will his style of play, if it's not reeled in without losing what makes him so good, potentially shorten the prime of his career?
While it seems unlikely based on everything we know from the team, it's possible Branch is left holding the proverbial bag as this round of Lions' contract extensions rolls on.
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