The hope for any team drafting in the first round is that they select a player good enough to warrant a) the exercise of the fifth-year option in their rookie contract and b) a second contract altogether. The Lions were certainly hoping for that when they selected Jack Campbell with the 18th pick of the 2023 NFL Draft.
Campbell, for his part, has delivered on those hopes, ascending to one of the best young linebackers in the NFL in just three short years. Pro Football Focus had him as their highest graded linebacker last year with an overall grade of 90.2 in 2025.
With him entering his fourth season in 2026, the Lions have until May 1st to make a decision on whether they will pick up his fifth-year option or not. There's a good chance they don't exercise the option. The problem lies with the NFL and their outdated positional designation model.
Campbell plays inside linebacker. His positional responsibilities line up with Fred Warner, Quay Walker and Devin Lloyd. The best player at his position, Warner, is the highest paid inside linebacker in the league making $21 million per year.
The problem though is that the NFL doesn't qualify the linebacker position. They classify Campbell the same T.J. Watt and Micah Parsons. They lump all linebackers - both off-ball and edge rushers alike - into the same category when they price the fifth-year option for the position. And because Campbell has earned a Pro Bowl nod, his fifth-year option is currently projected to be $21,925,000. That's almost $1 million over the highest paid player at his position.
How the fifth-year option complicates Jack Campbell's negotiations
I have looked at potential extensions for both Jaymyr Gibbs and Sam LaPorta. Now let's look at how Campbell's extension is one of the more difficult to project.
Normally, with a player of Campbell's caliber the negotiations for a long-term deal fold in the fifth-year option and work off of an APY north of that amount. But at such a high price relative to his position group, the Lions may opt to decline his option and try to negotiate an extension without that number influencing the discussions.
But there is danger in that plan of action. The Ravens declined center Tyler Linderbaum's fifth-year option last season because it would have paid him $23.4 million. That would have been a 30% premium over the highest-paid center at the time. Baltimore declined the option and continued to negotiate with their star center into this year's free agency period before he finally left for Las Vegas on a four-year, $81 million contract that reset his positional market by 50%.
But Campbell's fifth-year option isn't as big of a positional adjustment as Linderbaum's would have been. And his some of his closest comps make a case for his option to be in line with his actual value.
Player | Tackles | TFL's | Stops | Stop Rate | Pressures | Splash Plays |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Jack Campbell (2023-2025) | 369 | 11 | 136 | 5.03% | 38 | 30 |
Fred Warner (2018-2020) | 338 | 11 | 130 | 4.31% | 36 | 29 |
Player | Tackles | TFL's | Stops | Stop Rate | Pressures | Splash Plays |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Jack Campbell (2024-2025) | 281 | 9 | 111 | 5.36% | 29 | 25 |
Foyesade Oluokun (2020-2021) | 296 | 7 | 95 | 4.65% | 36 | 19 |
Player | Tackles | TFL's | Stops | Stop Rate | Pressures | Splash Plays |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Jack Campbell (2025) | 158 | 5 | 68 | 6.20% | 17 | 15 |
Roquan Smith (2022) | 169 | 6 | 62 | 5.97% | 14 | 10 |
Using the (cap-adjusted) contracts that these three comps signed would create a range of $21.75 - $28.25 million per year. Now I wouldn't expect Campbell to successfully argue for a Warner valuation and drive the inside linebacker market up 35% and over $7 million. But crazier things have happened (see: Linderbaum, Tyler),
The Oluokun contract would be a strong convergence of multiple factors. His cap-adjusted APY of $21.7 million is right in line with the estimated option value. Modeling deal after a slightly inflated Oluokun cap-adjusted APY, but over four years, while simultaneously building in the fifth-year option into the deal would make for a five-year, $115.5 million contract. The deal would be announced as a four-year extension at a $22.7 million APY, making Campbell the highest paid off-ball linebacker in the NFL.
From Detroit's perspective this could be seen as a win in a few ways. His effective APY, that is the APY when you calculate the entirety of what he is under contract for including the remaining years on his current deal would be $19.25 million. The $22.7 million APY on the new year's would be 7.53% of this year's salary cap. That would only be the 10th highest mark among all inside linebacker contracts signed since 2015. They also only push the top of the linebacker market up 8%.
For Campbell, the pros are plentiful. He resets the positional market and becomes the highest paid linebacker in the NFL. His team can also claim he's the first off-ball linebacker in the NFL to have his fifth-year option exercised/built into an extension in a very long time. He also should reset the market for guarantees as I would price his total guaranteed for this deal at $75 million with $57.75 million fully guaranteed. Both would be records for the position.