The full contract details of Jahmyr Gibbs‘ three-year extension are out, and it reveals a ton of interesting things about how the Detroit Lions approached this deal.
Before I get into the nitty-gritty, here’s how the overall contract looks, including overall cap hits and “dead cap if cut.”
[Note: This does not include the incentives built into Gibbs’ contract. More on that later.]
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What’s different about Jahmyr Gibbs contract?
It’s a pretty stark difference from how the Lions treated some of their recent extensions. For one, there is only one option bonus—a strategy Detroit has used annually on some of their most recent contracts. We broke down what option bonuses are in relation to Kerby Joseph’s contract here. Additionally, there is just one void year on the deal—but plenty of room to restructure and add void years, if desired.
Those two things combined allow the Lions a little wiggle room toward the end of Gibbs’ contract. If they want to get out of the contract, the lack of prorated option bonuses leaves less guaranteed (dead) money to worry about, particularly in that final year. If they want to extend Gibbs or lower his cap hit, the high base salaries allow for simple restructures.
But there is one caveat to all of this…
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Rolling guarantees make this contract harder to cut Jahmyr Gibbs
This contract is loaded with rolling guarantees. What are rolling guarantees? Basically, it’s a way for a player to ensure some of their salary is guaranteed a year prior to the next season.
For example, let’s take Gibbs’ 2028 salary. $8 million of it is already guaranteed. He’s getting that money—and the Lions are taking that cap hit—even if he’s cut before 2028. The remaining $2.25 million in 2028 salary becomes guaranteed if he’s still on the roster in March of 2027. So, in essence, if the Lions were to cut Gibbs in 2028, they would still be on the hook for that entire salary, because it became fully guaranteed in March of 2027.
Here are the other rolling guarantees in his contract:
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If on the roster in March 2028, $8 million of his 2029 salary is guaranteed
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If on the roster in March 2029, the $3.5 million of his 2029 salary is guaranteed
So even if the Lions cut Gibbs before March of 2029, they will still have to take cap hits for:
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Two more remaining signing bonus prorations (2029, 2030): $3 million each
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Three more remaining option bonus prorations (2029, 2030, 2031): $2,006,600 each
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$8 million in 2029 salary that became guaranteed in March 2028: $8 million
… for a total of $20,019,800 in dead cap—saving just under $7.5 million in cap space.
While the Lions can get out of the contract in 2029, it’s much more costly than it looks at first glance. That said, Detroit could utilize the June 1 designation to cut that year, splitting the ~$20 million in dead cap over two years ($13 million in 2029, $7 million in 2030).
But Detroit is getting early cap relief
Gibbs’ 2026 cap hit did increase by $3 million (new signing bonus proration), because there was nothing they could do with his minimum salary (it was fully guaranteed). However, they will certainly feel some relief in 2027.
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After Detroit exercised Gibbs’ fifth-year option, they were staring down a $14.29 million fully guaranteed salary. His 2027 cap hit is now essentially $8 million less, giving Detroit some flexibility in next year’s free agency.
Now, let’s say you didn’t want to extend Gibbs. You wanted him to play off that fifth-year option, and then franchise tag him in 2028. Three more years of Gibbs, then say goodbye. It’s hard to predict what his 2028 franchise tag would be, but OverTheCap projects the tag to be $15.065 million in 2027. Chances are it will be at least as expensive as Gibbs’ current 2028 cap hit of $15.5 million.
So over the next three years—well within the Lions’ Super Bowl window—Gibbs would have actually cost at least $5 million more to the team’s salary cap than if they didn’t extend him.
Incentives
Interestingly, the Lions are offering incentives to Gibbs tied around receiving yards, suggesting they are very interested in increasing that part of his game. Here are the details of those:
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$562,500 for each season (2026-28) in which he earns at least 800 receiving yards [paid in 2029]
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$562,500 for each season (2026-28) in which he earns at least 800 receiving yards AND the team gets to the divisional round of the playoffs [paid in 2029]
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$421,875 for each season (2026-29)in which he earns at least 800 receiving yards [paid in 2030]
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$421,875 for each season (2026-29) in which he earns at least 800 receiving yards AND the team gets to the divisional round of the playoffs [paid in 2030]
These incentives, if earned, will impact the salary cap when they are paid out.
