Jahmyr Gibbs’ return to practice was a sign that a long-term deal with the Lions was close.
Indeed, according to a source, the running back has agreed to a three-year, $67.5 million deal that could be worth up to $75.75 million. He will receive $51.5 million in guarantees. His deal follows Bijan Robinson and Jonathan Taylor’s agreements with their teams this week.
Gibbs had been holding in as he sought a long-term deal with the team.
Gibbs, 24, enters his fourth season after 3,580 rushing yards, 39 rushing touchdowns, 1,449 receiving yards and 10 receiving touchdowns in his first three seasons while sharing time with David Montgomery. The Lions traded Montgomery to the Texans in the offseason.
Gibbs has earned Pro Bowl honors in all three of his NFL seasons after the Lions made him the 12th overall pick in 2023.
Lions Clips
There’s been no word of an agreement on a new contract for Lions running back Jahmyr Gibbs, but there has been a change to his approach to practice at training camp.
Multiple reporters at Thursday’s practice sent word that Gibbs was in uniform and taking reps during early drills. After the walkthrough period of practice came to an end, Gibbs moved to a side field to do individual work. It is the first time that Gibbs has been on the practice field since camp started last month.
Gibbs is looking for a contract extension and that was seen as the reason why he was not participating in practices with the rest of the team. Gibbs said that was not the case in brief comments to reporters earlier this week, but declined to say why he wasn’t practicing or when he might get on the field.
The reason for the shift in participation is also currently unknown, but the extensions that Bijan Robinson and Jonathan Taylor agreed to over the last few days could have created some momentum toward a new deal for Gibbs. Whatever the reason, the Lions have one of their best players practicing and that’s a positive sign for the offense in Detroit.
The Lions re-signed wide receiver Tarik Black on Wednesday, the team announced.
In a corresponding move, the Lions placed tight end Miles Kitselman on injured reserve.
Detroit waived Black on Monday.
He had initially signed with the Lions in June after the UFL season. Black played for the Louisville Kings this spring, catching 31 passes for 459 yards and three touchdowns.
He entered the NFL as an undrafted free agent in 2021, signing with the Colts. Black has also spent time with the Jets, Ravens, Steelers and Dolphins, appearing in one regular-season game.
Bijan Robinson and Jahmyr Gibbs have been mentioned in conjunction with one another a lot this offseason and their contract pushes were also the subject of conversations between the two running backs.
Robinson’s training camp hold-in ended when he signed a three-year extension with the Falcons on Wednesday, but Gibbs is still in the middle of one as he and the Lions try to work out a deal of their own. Robinson told reporters on Wednesday that he and Gibbs commiserated this offseason during calls about their respective situations.
“We just told each other, ‘Just hang in there, everything’s going to get done, everything’s going to be all right,’” Robinson said, via Marc Raimondi of ESPN.com. “And it’s cool to see him go through it, too. And I hope he gets the most out of what he deserves because he deserves it — deserves it all.”
The three new years on Robinson’s deal has an average annual salary of $22.25 million, which is the most for any running back in the league. Gibbs, who went four picks after Robinson in the 2023 first round, could top that number and Robinson said he thinks the parallel career arcs are a positive for both players.
“The Bijan-Gibbs debate is actually cool to see,” Robinson said. “It actually helps us both out because every single Sunday or whatever day we play, we’re always trying to compete against each other. And to have a guy like that, that I can compete with in whatever game he’s playing in and whatever game I’m playing in, we just know that we have to give our best effort. So, it’s cool to experience that.”
Debate about which back is better is likely to continue regardless of what Gibbs’s deal winds up looking like, but both teams will remain pleased with the choice they made a few years ago.
The Lions stayed local in hiring their new President and CEO.
Richard Haddad, who currently is the Detroit Pistons’ Chief Operating Officer, will be the Lions’ next President and CEO, the team announced today. Haddad will begin with the Lions in early September.
Haddad will oversee both the football and business operations of the Lions and Ford Field, reporting to owner Sheila Hamp.
“Rich is a proven leader who understands what it means to steward an iconic sports franchise in the city of Detroit, and we are thrilled that he is bringing that experience to the Lions,” said Hamp. “Throughout our process, Rich’s experience, steady leadership style, and grasp on the present and future state of team sports were clear differentiators. My family and I are excited to work with Rich on driving the Lions forward in our continued pursuit to bring a championship to Detroit.”
Rod Wood, the Lions’ current President and CEO, is retiring from the role and was involved in the process that resulted in the hiring of Haddad.
With the Falcons and running back Bijan Robinson working out a new contract, many assume that the Lions and running back Jahmyr Gibbs will go next — and quickly.
And while it’s possible that having Robinson’s terms in place will make it easier for Gibbs, there’s an even better chance (as we understand it) that the Robinson contract will become an impediment.
Yes, Robinson reset the market at the position, bumping the new-money APY from $20.6 million to $22.25 million. It’s hard to find much fault with a new record deal.
But the market for running backs continues to languish. Sure, it’s gotten somewhat better in recent years. It’s still far behind where it should be. If Gibbs is determined to take it where it should go, the Robinson contract becomes a ball and chain to that effort.
The Lions will say, “The market is the market.” They’ll assume it’s good enough to pay Gibbs $23 million per year in new money or maybe even $22.5 million or perhaps as little as $22.26 million.
Gibbs can counter by pointing to his impact on the offense. In 2025, he had 1,929 yards from scrimmage and 20 total touchdowns. Last year, he had 1,839 yards from scrimmage and 18 total touchdowns. He finished third on the team in receiving yards, with 616.
Then there’s the fact that the Lions have moved on from David Montgomery. They’ll rely even more on Gibbs in 2026. It gives Gibbs leverage.
The team’s current posture fuels his case, too. They finished fourth in the NFC North last year. The offense, despite the presence of a weapon like Gibbs, sputtered relative to the Ben Johnson era. The Lions need the offense, and the team overall, to perform better this year. Another failure to make the playoffs will make key seats hot in 2027. That gives Gibbs even more leverage.
From the franchise’s perspective, the Lions won’t want to blow up the running back market. Beyond the realities of the salary cap, other teams will frown upon a contract that makes it more expensive for them to sign their own running backs to new deals, since those players will say, “The market is the market.”
It’s an example of the sometimes subtle, sometimes not, collusion that absolutely exists in the NFL. Teams that do unconventional things aren’t simply ridiculed by other clubs. They’re resented. An outlier deal makes it harder for the result of the league to do business on their terms.
Through it all, the clock is ticking. The regular season is coming. The Lions need Gibbs on the practice field. They’ll need him to be playing in games.
For Gibbs, who is 24 and has had three Pro Bowl seasons, this is his one chance to truly break the bank. He should hold firm for what he has earned, and what he has earned is objectively more than $22.56 million or $22.5 million or $23 million per year.
On Tuesday, the Ravens gave receiver Zay Flowers a new deal worth $35 million per year in new money. And while it’s apples and oranges on the surface, all of the fruit ends up in the same basket. At this point in time, Gibbs is a much more valuable piece than Flowers. Why should the bright lines of the by-position market change that?
It all comes down to Gibbs’s resolve. At some point, the Lions will have no choice but to blink. The question is whether he’ll hold firm until that happens.
The predicament is one of the basic realities of the draft system. If a team turns its lottery ticket into a big winner (which the Lions did with Gibbs), the team ultimately pays the jackpot to the player.
The better the player, the bigger the jackpot. And Gibbs is in line for a very big jackpot.
The Lions added a running back to the roster while they wait for Jahmyr Gibbs to get on the practice field.
The NFL’s daily transaction report shows that they signed Raheem Blackshear after a tryout. Wide receiver Lawrence Keys was waived with an injury designation.
Blackshear played 41 games for the Panthers from 2022-2024, but did not see any regular season action last year. He ran 52 times for 203 yards and three touchdowns and saw time as a returner during his years in Carolina.
The Lions also worked out running backs Clyde Edwards-Helaire, Hassan Haskins, and Kylin James on Tuesday.
When it comes to running back contracts, much of the focus has been on the guys who are (or, as to one of them, were) holding in: Falcons running back Bijan Robinson and Lions running back Jahmyr Gibbs.
There’s another running back who wants a new deal. But he has been practicing (and, in turn, risking the kind of injury that would immediately end all negotiations and give Taylor no security beyond 2026).
While it remains to be seen whether, and what, Gibbs gets paid, Taylor’s new deal could be coming. There’s talk that Taylor may end up with a two-year extension.
Taylor, who signed a three-year, $42 million extension in 2023 after negotiations that got contentious and at times ugly, is entering the final year of his contract. He’s due to earn a base salary of $11.98 million with per-game roster bonuses that total $1.02 million.
Taylor apparently learned about the new Robinson deal from reporters, during a Tuesday press conference.
“I gotta go talk to my agent, too,” Taylor said, via James Boyd of The Athletic. “I have faith, so I’m gonna tap in and check in with him, now that you guys broke the news to me.”
For Taylor, 27, this is likely his last shot at a big contract. And if it’s going to be a two-year extension, Taylor could match the Robinson new-money APY of $22.25 million with a three-year, $57.5 million deal.
That would put Taylor at a total average of $19.167 million through 2028.
We’ll see where it goes. But, again, the fact that he’s practicing means there’s a non-zero chance any and all pending offers will instantly go away.
With Falcons running back Bijan Robinson getting a new contract that pushes the new-money APY at the position from $20.6 million to $22.25 million, Lions running back Jahmyr Gibbs has acquired an important data point for his own talks.
Will Gibbs try to match Robinson’s number? Will Gibbs try to beat it? Will Gibbs try to blow it away?
It’s no coincidence that the initial reporting on the Robinson deal spoke not in terms of the new-money APY of $22.25 million but the maximum value of $25 million per year. Given the overall skillsets and impacts of Robinson and Gibbs, both should have been trying to get to at least $25 million per year in new-money APY.
Robinson will get there only if he hits the targets for the various incentives and/or escalators. Gibbs still has a chance to get there with his base APY.
And when it comes to the new-money APY — a sort-of fugazi way to value contracts but the accepted norm used throughout the league (except when it leads to ridiculous results) — the old money becomes a factor. Remember, there are no true extensions. Robinson’s new three-year deal wonn’t get stapled onto the end of his two remaining years. He’ll have a brand-new five-year deal, which folds the existing cash from 2026 and 2027 into 2028, 2029, and 2030.
Robinson was due to make $3.744 million in 2026 and $11.323 million in 2027. That’s a total of $15.067 million in “old money.” Gibbs is due to make $3.183 million in 2026 (he was drafted four spots lower than Robinson) and $14.293 million in 2027 (he earned a higher fifth-year option based on his performances in 2023, 2024, and 2025). That’s a total of $17.476 million in “old money.”
Robinson’s lower old-money total makes it easier to get a higher new-money average on his five-year deal. If Gibbs merely matches Robinson’s new-money APY, Gibbs will need to make $2.409 million more than Robinson over the next five years.
In other words, if Gibbs signs the exact same five-year deal that Robinson will sign, Robinson will have the higher new-money APY, which means he’ll be regarded as making more than Gibbs. At a minimum, Gibbs will want (and should try to get) at least $2.409 million more over the next five years than Robinson will receive.
That nuance won’t matter if Gibbs and his agents hold the rope for a real $25 million per year APY. That would require a five-year, $92.476 million contract for Gibbs.
Putting it in those terms, is a five-year deal that pays out an average of $18.49 million per year from signing a good deal for the Lions? Hell yes.
Flipping it back to Robinson, the combination of the old money and the new money results in a five-year, $81.817 million base deal. At $16.36 million per year over the next five years for arguably the best player in all of football, that’s a great deal for the Falcons.
It underscores the fact that the best running backs in the NFL aren’t getting their fair share. Robinson opted to accept a new-money APY bump of $1.65 million over the prior record. That doesn’t mean Gibbs will do the same thing.
If he takes that position, he’ll be more than justified in doing so. Because if Gibbs were available to any team right now, they’d be lining up around the block to give him a five-year, $92.476 million contract.
Tight end Anthony Firkser’s return to the Lions turned out to be a brief one.
Firkser signed with the team on July 31, but his run on the active roster ended when the team placed him on injured reserve Tuesday morning. Head coach Dan Campbell said at his press conference that Firkser fractured his fibula.
When the Lions initially signed Firkser, they waived tight end Zach Horton in a corresponding move. Horton re-signed with the team on Tuesday to fill the spot opened up by Firkser’s injury.
Firkser played for the Lions in 2023 and 2025 and returned to the team after being released by the Commanders in July.
