The event being in town may or may not have been a factor, but the day before the 2024 NFL Draft the Detroit Lions gave big contract extensions to wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown and offensive tackle Penei Sewell in the span of a few hours.
Lions general manager Brad Holmes has deferred to the future cost of contract extensions as the primary reason for doing or not doing some things this offseason. In some ways it's a flimsy excuse, but when you don't buy into being in a Super Bowl window it stands as perfectly solid reasoning.
At last check, and the top of the market at his position has changed since then, the Lions were in the early stages of contract talks with defensive end Aidan Hutchinson. He looks to be just about back to full strength after the broken leg that truncated what was on track to be a Defensive Player of the Year campaign last year, so there's no time like the present to get a deal done.
On Monday, during a pre-draft event at the Detroit Economic Club, Lions' president Rod Wood was asked about Hutchinson's future.
“No comment", Wood said, via Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press, before proceeding to comment.
"He will be here the long haul, I can assure you of that", Wood said. "We’ll start working on that. And we have a track record of extending our own players, which we’ve done that recently with Sewell and St. Brown and [defensive tackle] Alim McNeill, and I think that Hutch is likely to be coming up soon."
Josh Liskiewitz of Pro Football Focus has followed the scent Wood laid down to offer a prediction the Lions will sign Hutchinson to a contract extension ASAP.
"On the eve of last year’s draft, the Lions doled out brand new contracts to offensive tackle Penei Sewell and receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown, handing the pair of stars a combined $162 million in guarantees. This year, it’s edge defender Aidan Hutchinson’s turn. Lions team president Rod Wood said on Monday that the team is prioritizing a new contract for him this spring, so maybe they will repeat last season’s moves with a bit of pre-draft spending."
Biggest move of draft week for the Lions probably won't be a draft pick
Lions safety Kerby Joseph threw out the first pitch at the Detroit Tigers' game Tuesday night. Speaking to Jennifer Hammond of Fox 2, he hinted the contract extension he is line for might be coming.
"It's in progress," Joseph said. "We're getting things going. I love Detroit, Detroit loves me."
Then we got this on Wednesday, from @SlickRickScoops (who has been right about some NFL things) on Twitter.
It would be something if the Lions announced contract extensions for Hutchinson and Joseph before the week is over. Of course it wouldn't be the first time they made two of their core players one of the highest-paid at their position during draft week, while basically overshadowing anything they do (or might do) during the draft.