The Detroit Lions report for training camp next week — rookies July 25, veterans July 28 — and Jahmyr Gibbs is still playing on his rookie contract. No agreement has been reported, and the front office is under no procedural pressure to reach one: Detroit exercised his fifth-year option this offseason, which controls him through 2027.
General manager Brad Holmes has said repeatedly that re-signing his own draft picks is the plan, naming Gibbs alongside Sam LaPorta, Brian Branch and Jack Campbell at his end-of-season news conference. He has not attached a timeline to any of them. ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler has predicted that whenever the Lions do it, Gibbs will become the highest-paid running back in league history.
The case is easy to make on production. Gibbs’ 49 touchdowns through three seasons broke the record held by Barry Sanders (47). He put up 1,839 scrimmage yards last season, fifth in the NFL, with 18 total touchdowns, second. His 77 catches for 616 yards were career highs, and NFL.com’s Kevin Patra wrote this week that the offseason trade of David Montgomery leaves the backfield entirely Gibbs’.
The complication is the shape of the market and the shape of his season. Gibbs averaged 86.5 rushing yards per game with 6.1 yards per carry and 10 rushing touchdowns through 11 games, then 45.3 yards per game on 3.1 per carry with three scores over the final six, per ESPN — a stretch that coincided with a Lions offense that fell apart around him and cost coordinator John Morton his job. Detroit is also projected over the cap, though restructures for Jared Goff, Amon-Ra St. Brown and others could clear substantial room.
The benchmarks keep moving. Saquon Barkley sits atop the position at $20.6 million per year on a two-year, $41.2 million extension. In May, Miami gave De’Von Achane four years and $64 million, worth up to $68 million with incentives — a dual-threat back with a similar profile getting paid a year earlier in his career than Gibbs would be.
The workload is the real question underneath the money. Gibbs is about to absorb a full bell-cow share at 24, and every carry the Lions add in 2026 is a carry they are paying for in a deal that runs to 2030 or beyond. Waiting costs them leverage; moving now costs them cap flexibility on three other extensions. Camp opens with that unresolved.
