The Detroit Lions rarely reach for the franchise tag, but Sam LaPorta has popped up as a name to watch for 2027.
That’s notable in Detroit because the team has almost never gone that route. Since the franchise tag arrived in 1993, the Lions have used it only five times, and the last player to get it was Ezekiel Ansah in 2018. Still, former NFL agent and current salary cap analyst Joel Corry included LaPorta among his early look at 2027 tag candidates.
Corry also pointed out that Detroit’s usual approach could work in LaPorta’s favor.
“The Lions are among the NFL’s most proactive teams at locking up core players before the expiration of rookie contracts,” Corry wrote. “This philosophy could work to LaPorta’s advantage.”
That lines up with what Brad Holmes said earlier this offseason. The Lions general manager said at the NFL Combine that he had interest in extending the team’s first four picks from the 2023 NFL Draft: Jahmyr Gibbs, Jack Campbell, LaPorta, and Brian Branch.
“Those are all players that we feel are core players that we want to keep around. They’re part of our foundation,” Holmes said at the NFL Combine.
So far, only Campbell has gotten his extension. And while Detroit wants to keep all four, the cap picture is getting tighter, which makes future decisions more complicated. LaPorta’s back injury could also affect how eager the Lions are to commit long term to the Pro Bowl tight end.
The tight end market got another data point this offseason when Kyle Pitts signed a three-year, $53 million extension with the Falcons. George Kittle still holds the top average annual value for the position, thanks to the four-year, $76.4 million deal he signed in 2025.
It’s still a long way off, but LaPorta’s future is clearly on the radar in Detroit, along with Branch’s.
Elsewhere, today’s Feed Post of the Day came from Hunt Baker, who wrote about a question Lions fans know well: “Will they win a Super Bowl before I die?” It’s a more personal post, but one worth reading.
There was also a bit of trivia floating around about ESPN’s list of players on every team who would fetch at least one first-round pick in a trade, and the Lions had seven players on it.
And if you needed a lighter moment, Amon-Ra St. Brown and Jahmyr Gibbs were doing their best WWE entrance impressions.
Finally, the Lions and Soaring Eagle Casino announced a five-year partnership this week, including a Soaring Eagle-sponsored sports bar in the upper concourse of Ford Field.
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The bigger concern is that Detroit is trying to reset while the division keeps tightening around it. The NFC North is loaded with teams that finished above .500 last season, and Minnesota already showed how hard the path can be by sweeping the Lions. If Detroit is going to reassert itself as a contender, it will have to sort through those changes quickly and avoid the kind of early hiccups that can turn a promising season into another chase. [Read more 🡒]