Will Lions Extend or use Fifth Year Option on Gibbs and Campbell?

As the new league year approaches, NFL teams will have a short period (03/11/26 - 05/01/26) starting on the first day of the 2026 NFL League Year to decide whether they want to exercise the 5th Year Option on their 2023 1st Round Draft Picks or let them hit Unrestricted Free Agency. The Lions will be in a unique position for the second year in a row, because they have not one, but two players that will qualify for the option if they do not extend them first. The NFL publicized the rates for players based on the tier they hit on Friday, so let's dig into what the Lions may do with Jack Campbell and Jahmyr Gibbs.

Jahmyr Gibbs and Jack Campbell with Dan Campbell and Brad Holmes

This was set up three years ago when Brad Holmes was entering his second year as GM of the Detroit Lions and he "shocked" many with taking not one, but two non-premium players in the 1st round of the 2023 draft. He caught plenty of flack for those picks at the time because of their perceived positional value in relation to where they were selected and that the Liosn could be in a bind when RB Jahmyr Gibbs (12th) and LB Jack Campbell (18) were at their decision date for exercising the 5th year option on them.

Well, a funny thing happened in the three years since. Gibbs has blossomed into one of the most dangerous RBs and playmakers in the NFL and Campbell just earned the most votes for AP First-Team All-Pro at LB. So, position value be damned, these guys both turned out to be ballers and invaluable members of the Lions, so the 5th year option being offered is a no brainer, right? These guys will get paid; it just needs to be determined whether the Lions will extend them on their terms (the window opened on 01/05/26) or if they will apply the 5th Year Option first and extend them after the 2026 NFL season.

Brad Holmes has had three years of 1st rounders that reached this decision point, and he has pretty much used every option available, including trading a player away.

• 2020 - Jeff Okudah - Not Exercised: Lions Traded him to Atlanta and by agreeing to pay $1.5M of his salary, the 5th Year Option was negated

• 2021 - Penei Sewell - Not Exercised: Lions Extended him in 2024 for Four years,

• 2022 - Aiden Hutchinson - Exercised Option - Extended on 10/29/25 with Four Year Deal

• 2022 - Jameson Williams - Exercised Option - Extended on 09/06/25 with Three Year Deal

The folks at Over the Cap have a great tool that breaks down the fifth year for the currently eligible (2023) draft class and describes the four salary tiers and how they are calculated if that player earns the 5th Year Option. Going into the season, here is where both Gibbs and Campbell stood.

Fifth Year Option Qualifiers:

• RB Jahmyr Gibbs

  • 12th Overall

  • TIER 4: Multi Pro Bowl = $14,293,000

    • Original Ballot Pro Bowler 2024 and 2025

• LB Jack Campbell

  • 18th Overall

  • TIER 3: 1 Pro Bowl = $21,925,000

    • Original Ballot Pro Bowler 2025

These two options combined ($36.218M) are still slightly less than Hutch and Jamo from last year ($36.4M) and if exercised, they would immediately go against the 2027 Cap number, where the Lions currently have 26 active contracts and $71.8M in open cap space against the projected cap.

My prediction is that Gibbs with definitely get the Fifth Year Option while they work on extending him, as Saquon Barkley ($20.6M APY) and Christian McCaffrey ($19M APY) have totally skewed the RB market at the top. It feels like Gibbs will likely fall in line below McCaffrey, but above Derrick Henry ($15M APY), which would be a small premium over the Fifth-Year number above.

For Jack Campbell, I believe that the Lions will look to extend him before or during the fifth-year option window, likely resetting the LB APY to a little over Fred Warners $21M that is the high bar today. The Transition Tag that would set Campbell's fifth-year option is actually higher than the current LB contract range because it takes into account future salary cap numbers, which are going to continue to climb. It would be in the Lions best interest to sign him to an APY that is either at the fifth-year number or slightly below (with a structure to offset losing some money) to ensure what is best for both Campbell and the team.