I expect Sam LaPorta to be expendable at trade deadline especially if they lose the two games out of the bye
1.) You can’t afford everyone, Goff is nearing new contract. The cap management requires sacrifice. We would be unwise to sign LaPorta to a huge contract
2.) Despite all the koolaid drinkers, this is not our year.
3.) The 2027 draft is thin on quality TE
4.) LaPorta value will be very high for contending teams with cap room to offer a longterm deal.
It is sad and I hate it, but it is a practical long term move if the offer is right.
Sam is going to be here for quite a while. And yes we do have money for all of the premium guys. Do we have money for both Mahogany and Tate if they keep progressing? Nope, but that is the way of the league.
No way Lions are letting Sam go this year.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Sam will become an UFA after the season and we will lose him. Sam deserves his bag too. We just don’t have the cap space to give him what he’s worth.
It’s about position priorities. On offense Sam is #5 in positional value, that’s just offense, we do not have the cap space to be paying the #5 positional value a top of the market contract.
I would think it may be more likely we franchise him and see if the rest are worth extensions. If Branch isnt worth extending now and Kerby will be gone we are more likely to rely on 1st contract players to fill the backend as well as interior OL which may free up some space for a short extension with Laporta.
Not saying your expectations cant or wont happen just my feeling on it. Especially since we know these top of market deals only stay that way for so long typically.
There’s no player the Lions drafted that they shouldn’t be able to sign to a 2nd contract.
3rd and 4th? Well that’s when it gets spicy. If Branch plays well he’ll be here and if Sam makes it through the season he’ll be here. I wouldn’t be shocked if Sam still gets a deal in this season
Goff is signed through the end of the 2028 season and this season he is playing in his age 32 season. So at the end of the contract he will have finished his age 34 season. Pocket passer guys tend to have pretty long careers if they are Elite and uninjured, so I think it’s reasonable that his performance can be similar to or close to within say 90% of what he’s been giving us the last few years through this contract and likely through age 36.
A 2-year extension is not going to change the overall cap structure for the team in those two seasons which would be 2029 and 30. They could also just franchise him but I doubt that’s the case it seems like a pretty happy marriage.
So, I don’t think there is much to worry about from a standpoint of Goff and his contract and his performance through this contract and maybe a couple years after and how it affects the team Financial picture.
Earlier in the thread there was talk that we have a lot of cap space coming available and it seems that it was opened for signing the last of the guys from the Villain-s excellent drafts. Branch is probably on a year’s probation for an extension at this point because of how severe Achilles injury is but I don’t think SLaP is. It’s been widely reported they have been talking about extensions and it would be very surprising if they don’t get something done.
The overall team strategy looks to be a continuation of the elite offense and adequate defense strategy, and I don’t think they’ll cut him out of that offense, especially when everyone else is signed along that same timeline right now.
It really is pretty simple, this team is a lockdown corner and some secondary depth plus a defensive coordinator with some real experience away from winning a super bowl or two, and for some reason the front office is not prioritizing this obvious final flaw in their system and is driving everyone flipping crazy
