Pride of Detroit
With the Detroit Lions’ 2025 season coming to a close, their roster begins its transition to the offseason. While most of the attention is paid to the Lions’ upcoming pending free agents, the players from Detroit’s incredible 2023 NFL Draft class enter a unique phase of their rookie contracts.
This offseason, the members of the Lions’ 2023 draft class who remain on Detroit’s roster will be entering the final year of their rookie contract and, therefore, become eligible for contract extensions at the conclusion of the 2025 regular season. Additionally, players who were drafted in the first round are also eligible for a team-held fifth-year option.
That means running back Jahmyr Gibbs and linebacker Jack Campbell are eligible for an extension and/or a fifth-year option, while tight end Sam LaPorta, safety Brian Branch, and offensive linemen Colby Sorsdal are only eligible for extensions. The remaining players from that draft class—Hendon Hooker, Brodric Martin, and Antoine Green—are no longer under contract with the Lions.
Gibbs and Campbell enter the fourth year of their rookie contracts, which are set to expire after the 2026 season. However, if the team elects to apply their fifth-year option, it would extend the contract through 2027 by adding a fully guaranteed fifth year.
The NFL pre-determines the value of a player’s fifth-year option by applying three factors: 1) draft slot, 2) playing time, and 3) Pro Bowl selections. The popular salary cap website OverTheCap.com does a good job of breaking down what those fifth-year option costs would look like for each player eligible, based on the incentives triggered.
Gibbs was drafted No. 12 overall, met the playing-time incentives, and was selected to three Pro Bowls, which means his contract moves up to the fourth (maximum) tier. OTC is projecting a fifth-year option of $14,143,000 (fully guaranteed) for Gibbs during the 2027 season.
Campbell was drafted with the No. 18 overall pick, met the playing-time incentives, and was selected to one Pro Bowl (2025), meaning his contract moves to the third tier. OTC is projecting a fifth-year option of $22,990,000 (fully guaranteed) for Campbell during the 2027 season.
The NFL wants to give teams a reasonable amount of time to make a determination on a player’s fifth-year option and, therefore, allows each organization to wait until the conclusion of free agency and the NFL Draft before assigning a deadline. Each year, the NFL sets the deadline for fifth-year options to be roughly one week after the first day of the NFL Draft.
In 2026, the deadline to apply a fifth-year option to an eligible player is May 1.
Yes. Because a player eligible for a fifth-year option is also eligible for a contract extension, the team could opt to bypass the extension altogether, or they can include it...
