Jahmyr Gibbs and Bijan Robinson have put the Detroit Lions and Falcons in the same near-impossible spot, and it might take some time to get things figured out
Detroit Lions and the Falcons are dealing with something the NFL almost never sees. Jahmyr Gibbs and Bijan Robinson have created a near-impossible contract situation.
The Detroit Lions opened training camp without running back Jahmyr Gibbs, and across the league, the Atlanta Falcons started without Bijan Robinson. That’s the top 2 running backs in football both sitting out at the same exact time, both up for contract extensions, and both holding all the leverage. This is a situation unlike anything we’ve really seen before.
I was talking to another reporter, and we kind of came up with this idea: when has this ever happened? When have the top 2 players at one position been up for an extension at the same exact time? It’s such a rarity. It doesn’t happen all the time. And when you’re in that position, the players have all the leverage. But it’s also a competition between both of them where whoever signs first probably loses.
Why the Lions can’t just wait this out
Detroit is not in one of those situations where you can just say, “Hey, it’s a running back. It’s fine. Don’t pay him. We’ll get another one.” And you definitely can’t do the whole “we’ve got two years of control on him, just wait it out and see what happens.” That kind of thing does not work with players like Gibbs. You don’t want to risk that either. You want to lock this guy down.
When you start messing around with players whom every GM in the league would do anything to acquire, that player has all the leverage in the world. The Lions are basically at a point where Gibbs can come in and name his price within reason. If he comes in like Dr. Evil and wants a billion gajillion dollars, Brad Holmes is not going to pay that, and he probably shouldn’t, but Gibbs can name his price and knows that if the Lions don’t want him, everybody else is going to want him. He knows Detroit is not going to risk losing him on the thought process that, well, what if he asks for a trade? Every team would want him.
Sure, the Lions might get back something great in trade assets and draft capital. But Gibbs changes this Lions offense in a huge, huge way. It is night and day when Gibbs is on the field and when he’s not. This is the guy you absolutely want to pay, absolutely need to keep.
The first-mover problem
Here’s the thing that makes this so tricky. If the Lions were to go out and sign Gibbs to a really big deal by the end of this week that makes him the highest-paid running back in the league, then Atlanta is immediately expected to top that, and Robinson winds up becoming the highest-paid running back. Vice versa works the same way. If Robinson gets signed first, Gibbs is going to want to beat that deal. And why wouldn’t he? That’s how this business works. Everybody wants to get paid as much as they possibly can for the short amount of time they’re able to do their career.
Whoever goes first loses, even though they’re going to be making an unbelievable amount of money. They won’t be making as much as the other guy, because the other guy is almost assuredly going to top that.
How long does this last?
Both teams have brand new offensive coordinators and brand new offenses that these guys need to learn and get ready to play in. They cannot afford for this to last very long. All the pressure is on the teams right now. They need to find the deal and get it done.
But you also have to find a way to get a deal that’s both player-friendly and team-friendly without overpaying and without having to make sure your player out-earns the other. That is just a sticky situation.
This doesn’t feel like something that gets solved overnight. Which means there is a possibility that this could last longer for both teams than fans are going to feel comfortable with.
We saw Holmes at practice, and when another reporter asked about Gibbs, he said he didn’t have any information on it. We’ll hear from Dan Campbell on Thursday morning, but I’m sure they’re not going to say much.
Day 2 of training camp is Thursday. We’ll see if Jahmyr Gibbs is in the building.
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