Can Brad Holmes still pay Sam LaPorta and Brian Branch after extending Jahmyr Gibbs?
Yes. Absolutely yes. And if you’re worried about it, you haven’t been paying attention to how this front office operates.
Brad Holmes structures contracts like a man who learned from every bad decision this franchise made for 50 years. He front-loads guaranteed money. He keeps early cap hits low. He stacks extensions in ways that give Detroit flexibility when they need it most.
Here’s the thing people keep forgetting: Gibbs’ extension doesn’t even kick in until 2028. The Lions still have him on the rookie deal in 2026, then the fifth-year option in 2027, then the new money starts flowing. Branch and LaPorta are both under contract for 2026, which means their extensions wouldn’t start until 2027 at the earliest.
Detroit could also restructure Jared Goff or Amon-Ra St. Brown if they need extra cap space. And here’s the unfortunate silver lining nobody wants to talk about: the Lions don’t have major extension pressure from the 2024 draft class. Terrion Arnold is gone. Ennis Rakestraw might get something down the line, but it won’t be massive. The pressure from that class just isn’t there the way it was with the 2023 group.
As for Kerby Joseph, no, cutting him isn’t what makes this all work. Would it free up a little room? Sure. But not enough to matter. His deal is structured with guaranteed money baked in. The Lions aren’t saving significant cap by moving on from him, and they don’t need to. Holmes can get the Branch and LaPorta deals done without sacrificing Joseph.
I’m not reporting anything here, just going off feel, but I think both extensions happen during the season. That’s how Detroit has handled David Montgomery, Alim McNeill, and Aidan Hutchinson. There’s no panic. There’s just process.
Any concerns about the offensive line?
Not really.
This unit is coming together. Six days into training camp and the sack count has been minimal. They’ve been stout in the run game. The only real question is who wins the left guard spot, and honestly, that’s not a crisis. That’s just camp.
Yeah, there are things to figure out. Communication, timing, movement. But it’s been six days. The defensive line isn’t punishing them. Aidan Hutchinson is wreaking havoc, but that’s just Aidan Hutchinson being Aidan Hutchinson. Blake Miller is having rookie growing pains, which is what rookies do. And Tate Ratledge? I haven’t written his name once in six days, which is actually a good sign. If I’m writing about an offensive lineman in camp, something bad happened.
Right now, nothing bad has happened.
What’s the biggest concern on this roster?
Linebacker.
It looked like Jimmy Rolder was going to beat out Malcolm Rodriguez for the starting job next to Jack Campbell and Derrick Barnes. Then Rolder got hurt. It doesn’t seem like a long-term injury, but it’s put him behind, and that matters in a position battle.
Rodriguez isn’t terrible. He’s just not a starting linebacker at this point in his career. And I know Lions fans want Devin White to be the guy they remember from Tampa Bay, but he hasn’t been that player since he left Tampa Bay. He’s been solid against the run in camp so far. Good, even. But I’d like to see more in coverage before I feel comfortable calling him the answer.
Beyond that, Trevor Nowaske is decent but limited to one spot. Troy Reeder is more of a special teams contributor right now. Rodriguez is probably the Week 1 starter at Will linebacker, with White as a possibility, but there are questions that still need answers before the season starts.
That’s really the only big concern right now. The secondary looks good. The defensive line is playing well. The offensive line is holding up. The receivers look great. You’d love to have Gibbs back at running back, but Isaiah Pacheco looks solid and Jacob Saylors has been making plays.
It’s only been six days, though. More concerns could absolutely pop up.
Are the Lions really going with what they have at cornerback?
It seems like they genuinely feel good about it.
That’s a little shocking, because nobody walked into camp feeling great about the depth behind the starters. But then Ennis Rakestraw started looking a lot better than expected. And Nick Whiteside has looked dramatically better than anyone thought he would.
Should the Lions add one more veteran? Maybe. Probably wouldn’t hurt. But no team with a good cornerback has any reason to move off of him right now. What makes the most sense is waiting until after training camp, seeing who gets cut, and grabbing a guy off the street. Then, if they still need help at the trade deadline, they can look at teams heading toward a rebuild and see who’s available.
But talking to Dan Campbell about the position, he feels good about where it stands. I don’t see the Lions making a trade anytime soon.
Will Dan Campbell and Brad Holmes get extensions before their contracts expire after 2027?
If the Lions go out and have a great season, make the playoffs, and win a playoff game, both Campbell and Holmes will get extended. Hell, even if they don’t win the Super Bowl. If they just rebound and have a better year, I think it happens.
There’s a lot of trust in what Campbell and Holmes are building. Sheila Ford Hamp loves them. Martha loves them. Everybody in the organization is fully bought in. The only scenario where anything changes is if the Lions have an absolute disaster of a season: wheels fall off, injuries pile up, they lose double-digit games and only win four or five. Even then, I feel like most of the pressure to move on would be external, coming from fans and media, rather than internal from ownership.
This regime has earned trust. That doesn’t mean they’re untouchable. It means they’ve built something real at Allen Park, and ownership knows it.
So is the linebacker room really the thing that’s going to derail this season, or are we just hunting for problems that don’t exist yet? Drop your take below.
