It's a matter of when, not if, the Detroit Lions make Jahmyr Gibbs one of the highest-paid running backs in the NFL. When asked about the prospect of a contract extension at OTAs recently, he did the expected thing and said he's just worried about football.
The same day Gibbs talked to reporters, Lions head coach Dan Campbell said this about the team's No. 1 running back.
"He's going to be our bell cow now," Campbell said. "He really became more of that last year, but we're going to hang our hat on him quite a bit. We're going to do a lot of things we feel like he does well."
The first sound you heard was Gibbs' agent finding documentation of Campbell's comments so he can now recite them during contract negotiations. The second sound you probably also heard was general manager Brad Holmes hitting himself with a face-palm after Campbell's comments, knowing Gibbs' new deal will have to best the deal Bijan Robinson gets from the Atlanta Falcons on a per-year basis.
Unless the Lions can get Gibbs' deal done first, of course. That might shave a couple million off the annual average, compared to getting it done after the Falcons secure Robinson's long-term services.
Analyst gives Jahmyr Gibbs advice that is too late to really matter
The Lions will have their final round of OTAs this week before mandatory minicamp from June 16-17. While everything up to now and this week is voluntary, Gibbs has been around throughout. Mandatory minicamp absences can be fined, up to a total of $107,911 for missing all three days if a team has that many days.
Lions' players, with only two days of minicamp, could be fined nearly $54,000 if they are absent for both days.
READ MORE: Sean Payton knows why Dan Campbell has given OTAs a wholly appropriate label
On Monday's edition of "PFT Live", Mike Florio brought back comments similar to what he first said a couple months ago.
"You know the argument would have been, with David Montgomery there, hey, if you're gonna have a Ferrari and not drive it, you still gotta pay for the Ferrari", Florio said. "That would've been the Jahmyr Gibbs argument for $20 million a year."
"Now the argument has gotten stronger. You're gonna drive the hell out of it. So you better pay for it, you better buy it before you start taking it everywhere, before you start taking it off-road."
"And it's all the more reason...Jahmyr Gibbs should not be on the field....he should not be touching grass, until they are paying him."
Florio noted how, even in a casual, pre-training camp setting, Gibbs is risking injury just as much as any other player is--even if he'd rather compartmentalize and be oblivious to that risk. The difference is how an injury could cost him a whole lot of money.
A renewal of the idea Gibbs should not practice, or "touch grass" as Florio put it, until he gets a contract extension might've made sense before the final week of voluntary OTAs for the Lions.
At this point, it really doesn't make sense for Gibbs to suddenly not take the practice field when he has been doing so all along.
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