The Detroit Lions have been semi-active in free agency. Their big splash was locking in Cade Mays to a three-year, $25 million deal. The rest of their spending has been at the margins, adding depth veterans on cheap deals.
Detroit has tons of cash locked into their current stars. Between Jared Goff, Amon-Ra St. Brown, Alim McNeill, Penei Sewell, Derrick Barnes, Jameson Williams, D.J. Reed and Kerby Joseph they have almost $205 million in cash locked into just nine players. But they also have four rising stars from their 2022 draft class that will soon need deals.
The Lions can wait longer on Jack Campbell and Jahmyr Gibbs, given that both have a fifth-year option that can be exercised. That may be difficult with Campbell, due to the NFL's antiquated positional designation system. But their two second rounders are entering contract years. I've covered a possible extension for Gibbs, so let's move on to one of their second rounders.
A possible Sam LaPorta extension
Sam LaPorta had a fantastic rookie season, catching 86 passes for 889 yards and 10 touchdowns. His sophomore season was a small step back, but he still ranked 11th in catches (60), 7th in receiving yards (726) and tied for 4th in touchdowns (7) among all tight ends.
2025 was a big step back for the young star. Hampered by injury, he played just nine games, catching 40 passes for 489 yards and three touchdowns.
Any extension that LaPorta would agree to would essentially ignore his 2025 season. He isn't going to accept an early deal valued off of his worst year. Therefore, looking at his three-year production and how it stacks up with other players with similar production's recent contracts.
Player | Age | Catches | Yards | Yds/rr | TD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Sam LaPorta (2023-2025) | 25.6 | 186 | 2,104 | 1.75 | 20 |
T.J. Hockenson (2020-2022) | 26.2 | 214 | 2,220 | 1.55 | 16 |
Eric Ebron (2017-2019) | 27.4 | 150 | 1,699 | 1.60 | 20 |
Trey McBride (2022-2024) | 25.8 | 221 | 2,236 | 1.78 | 6 |
The average of Hockenson, Ebron and McBride's APY's, adjusted for this year's salary cap would be $17.25 million. If LaPorta were to simply ask for/accept that it would immediately make him the third-highest paid tight end in the league behind George Kittle's $19.1 million APY and McBride's $19 million.
That should be the floor for a potential deal between LaPorta and the Lions. But Ebron is a bit of an outlier in this group. He was over a year older than the rest of the players on this list and his 2020 contract was his third deal, as opposed to everyone else's second. It's fair to toss him out of this group.
Eliminating Ebron from the group and sticking with just Hockenson and McBride as LaPorta's best comps gives a cap-adjusted APY of just over $21 million. This would make him the far and away highest paid tight end in the NFL. And it's where I think his representation would start negotiations, looking for a 10% increase on the top of the market.
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Detroit would likely counter at $19.25 million saying they would be happy to make him the highest paid tight end in NFL history with a small bump over Kittle. That would make $20 million a logical midpoint and let LaPorta gain the distinction of the first tight end to ever hit the $20 million mark.
At four years, that would make the total value of that contract $80 million. Using McBride's deal as a benchmark his total guarantees would be around $45 million with total guarantees at $35 million.
The Lions would see this, not as a four-year deal, but as a new five-year deal that incorporates his 2025 cash already owed ($5,767,000). That deal, in totality, would be for $85,767,000 at an APY of $17,153,400.
That's good business for the Lions. And fair value for LaPorta.