Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell had an interesting thought on Thursday when he was asked if contract years could be a thing for Lions players.
The idea of the whole contract year phenomenon is that a player plays his best ball on the final year of his contract so that he can get another contract after that season. Preferably a bigger one. It’s one of those tropes in sports that just always kind of been around. This was Campbell’s response:
“I mean, with our guys? I hope not. Then we probably don’t have the right guys. That make sense? So I think our guys are playing it year by year and you’re giving the most you have in that year whether it’s a contract year or not. I think if if that’s the deal we probably have the wrong guy. And I feel very confident Brad and I made the right decision on guys we drafted or brought in.”
It’s yet another example of the Lions continually placing the fit and the culture above everything and that this method works. The Lions will absolutely turn down a legendary player that doesn’t fit their culture in favor a good player that does.
The whole contract year thing doesn’t really have a whole lot to back it up either. It’s often been proven to be more of a myth than an actual thing that takes place within sports. If it were real, the Lions aren’t looking for a guy that’s out to get paid over the good of the team. They’re looking for guys that want the team to be good and would also like to get paid at some point and realize that they need to do both those things simultaneously over the course of time.
So don’t expect guys like Taylor Decker, Carlton Davis or Alim McNeill to have good years because they’re thinking about the check. Expect them to do it because they want to win a championship.