Detroit Lions wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown has one year remaining on his contract; however, the Lions already want to give him an extension.
Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press reported the team’s brass is scheduled to meet with St. Brown’s representatives at the scouting combine in Indianapolis this week.
The Lions are aiming to retain most of their core players and are in a position to hand out big contracts. Spotrac estimates the Lions have $54.29M in cap room, the seventh-most in the NFL.
“It’s not just, ‘Oh, you drafted them, and you know them, so even if they’re not performing well and they’re not meeting expectations that you just keep them,'” Lions head coach Dan Campbell said in a Monday news conference. “No, it’s that you try your best to acquire the right players through the draft, and hopefully, the goal is to develop them, and then once they get to a point where they’re eligible to re-sign, you re-sign them, and you feel really, really good about it.”
Along with St. Brown, several star wideouts are up for extensions this offseason, including Justin Jefferson (Minnesota Vikings), CeeDee Lamb (Dallas Cowboys) and Ja’Marr Chase (Cincinnati Bengals). If Detroit doesn’t give their star a new deal this year, his price will skyrocket in 2025. St. Brown’s market value could be a four-year deal worth $26.3M annually, fourth highest at his position.
The Lions could franchise tag the 24-year-old next offseason, but his play merits a payday. In 16 games during the past campaign, the former fourth-round pick recorded career highs in receptions (119), receiving yards (1,515) and receiving TDs (10), earning a first-team All-Pro nod for his efforts.