The Detroit Lions have already checked off two major extension boxes from their 2023 draft class, and Brad Holmes made it clear Wednesday that he still wants to finish the job.
Jack Campbell’s deal is done. Jahmyr Gibbs is locked in, too. That leaves safety Brian Branch and tight end Sam LaPorta as the next priorities, and Holmes said at his annual preseason press conference in Allen Park on Sept. 2 that the team’s thinking hasn’t changed.
"We still want to keep those other guys around," Holmes said. "Those plans haven’t changed.
There’s a couple factors that we still got to sort through, but in terms of us wanting those guys around, absolutely. Hopefully we can get that done."
The challenge, at least in part, is health. Branch and LaPorta are both dealing with injury recoveries that have complicated the timing of any new agreement.
Branch tore his Achilles last December and is set to miss at least the first four games of the regular season while on the physically unable to perform list. LaPorta is working back from back surgery.
Branch has not practiced this summer, and Holmes did not give a timetable for when Branch or fellow safety Kerby Joseph might return. Both players are rehabbing, Holmes said, but the general manager stopped short of putting a date on either comeback.
"We still have confidence that [Branch and Joseph] can come back, you just can’t really give an exact timeline," Holmes said. "But yeah, I mean, they’re both here, they’re rehabbing, they’re working hard, just can’t offer a timeline. But yeah, the hopes is to have both of them back at some point."
LaPorta, meanwhile, missed time this preseason because of a hip injury, though the expectation is that he’ll be ready for the regular-season opener Sept. 13 against the New Orleans Saints at Ford Field.
Branch has built a strong résumé when healthy. The 24-year-old made the Pro Bowl in 2024 and has totaled seven interceptions, 4½ sacks and three forced fumbles in his career. Detroit drafted him No. 45 overall out of Alabama.
LaPorta arrived in Detroit as the No. 34 pick out of Iowa and burst onto the scene in 2023 with 86 catches for 889 yards, a rookie tight end record. His numbers have dipped over the last two seasons, though. Last year, he finished with 40 receptions for 489 yards.
The market around both positions has climbed sharply, and Holmes pointed to that reality as part of the backdrop. At safety, Derwin James and Kyle Hamilton have signed extensions worth around $25 million per season, while Joseph briefly became the league’s highest-paid safety at $21.25 million per year when he signed his extension in April 2025.
At tight end, George Kittle and Trey McBride landed top-of-the-market deals worth around $19 million last season. Kyle Pitts’ three-year, $53 million contract this offseason left him as the only other tight end making more than $14 million annually.
Holmes also explained why Gibbs’ extension unfolded the way it did. He called it "unique" because Robinson and Gibbs were negotiating at the same time. Robinson’s three-year, $66.75 million deal with the Falcons in early August made him the NFL’s highest-paid running back, and Gibbs followed two days later with his own three-year, $67.5 million extension from the Lions.
"Al of them are unique, especially when it gets up to that magnitude from a financial standpoint," Holmes said. "It was just unique that both of those guys were kind of happening at the same time so it was just more of kind of just being patient. Like we already knew what we wanted to do and you just had to see who was going to get done first and you got to kind of adjust and pivot off of that."
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