Lions 'Preparing' for Contract Talks with Key Players

Brad Holmes has a lot of work ahead of him to keep Detroit Lions' roster intact.

Going into the 2023 season, there's no denying the fact that Brad Holmes has done a solid job of constructing the Detroit Lions' roster.

Over the course of the past offseason, he most notably beefed up Detroit's secondary. He inked veteran defensive backs Cam Sutton, Emmanuel Moseley and C.J. Gardner-Johnson all to free-agent deals, while also adding Brian Branch via this past April's NFL Draft.

Overall, he's done a commendable job of reshaping a Lions roster that was in disarray when he took over as general manager in 2021. 

Fast-forward to this upcoming season, and now it's about Holmes and Detroit's front office working on retaining their core players.

Over the next two offseasons, several key members of the Lions' roster – on both sides of the ball – will be entering free agency.

Most notably, left guard Jonah Jackson's contract is set to expire at the end of the 2023 campaign. Meanwhile, quarterback Jared Goff, left tackle Taylor Decker, safety Tracy Walker and wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown are all scheduled to become free agents at the conclusion of the 2024 season.

There could also be dialogue in the near future regarding extending Pro Bowl right tackle Penei Sewell, whose present contract expires after the 2025 campaign. 

Holmes, to say the least, has a lot of work ahead of him when it comes to keeping his roster intact. 

"Now, we know there’s a business side of it, but it’s easy to identify who those core players are and who those guys who are gonna really be staples in our franchise," Holmes said, during an appearance on 97.1 The Ticket Thursday morning. "Those discussions, we talk about, we’re preparing for. Guys like a Jonah Jackson, we’ve had discussions about that. There’s gonna be a Penei Sewell discussion, a St. Brown discussion, a Jared (Goff discussion). It’s a lot of decisions we’re gonna make, but we’re gonna do the best we can." 

Perhaps the most intriguing contract extension question facing the Lions is what the organization will do with Goff, its veteran signal-caller.

Goff, who is set to make $20.975 million and cost $30.975M against the cap in 2023, is coming off an impressive '22 season.

During the aforementioned campaign, Goff threw for 29 touchdowns, and tossed just seven interceptions on 587 pass attempts, leading to the lowest interception percentage of his career (1.2 percent). He also failed to throw a single interception during Detroit's final nine games of the season. And, over that same span, Goff compiled 15 touchdowns, and guided the Lions to a 7-2 record.

Additionally, for the season, he recorded a 61.1 QBR – the fifth-best mark among all passers in 2022. The only year in which he amassed a higher QBR came in 2018, when he was a member of the Los Angeles Rams (63.6).

And with another productive campaign, the eighth-year signal-caller could be due for a hefty new contract – and sooner rather than later.

"We’ve been keeping open dialogue from the very start," Holmes said of the Lions' contract talks with Goff. "We’ve been very transparent both with Jared and his camp. We’ll keep it in house, but we’re gonna do the right thing for the franchise. And, that’s where we’ll go.”

Veterans like Goff have helped flip the narrative about the Lions franchise, and have enabled Detroit to become a desirable landing spot for free agents.

The town was hardly that prior to the beginning of the Holmes-Dan Campbell regime. 

"It’s widely known that we kind of tore it down pretty good when we first got here, and it was intentional. We had a plan of what we’re trying to do," the third-year general manager expressed. "I would say it’s night and day (regarding the difference between this year's and last year's roster), because even going back to, we knew we wanted to build through the draft and we believe we’ve done that and we’ll continue to do that. 

"Just thinking about free-agency periods, like that first one, (we had) minimal resources to work with. You’re almost really asking players do they want to come. That narrative flipped, and you felt that change of guys wanting to come here. Not just our own guys, because of the culture we’ve put in place, our own guys want to come back and get re-signed. But, this year, it was external. (People) heard about what we’re doing, seen the growth that we’re doing and they want to come here."