After a spring of big-money deals, who's next in line for new contract with Detroit Lions?

The Detroit Lions signed three of their best players to long-term extensions this offseason, keeping their offensive nucleus together and sending an important message to the rest of their roster: Play well, do the right things and you, too, can be rewarded.

“I think that is important,” Lions quarterback Jared Goff said Thursday in the news conference to announce his new four-year, $212 million deal . “I think the Lions, they recognize that upstairs and know that we have three players that were due for a new deal and took care of them. I think that potential free agents see that and potential draft picks in the future see that and know that if you play well you are taken care of.”

Goff, Amon-Ra St. Brown and Penei Sewell are cornerstone players who were around for the start of the Lions’ rebuild. Signing them to long-term, top-of-market deals was, in many ways, a no-brainer. They’re young and healthy, and the Lions are in a good spot cap-wise and in position to contend for a Super Bowl.

There are more difficult decisions on the horizon, though. Some players will age out of the Lions’ plans, and even in a rising-cap environment, the Lions won’t be able to keep everyone.

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Here’s a look at the next wave of players due for contract extensions and a guess as to how the Lions handle their business. This covers most key players set to be free agents in 2025-26. Players with one year of NFL experience (last year’s draft class of Sam LaPorta, Jahmyr Gibbs, Brian Branch and Jack Campbell) and free agents added this offseason (Marcus Davenport, Kevin Zeitler, D.J. Reader) are not included.

2025 free agents

DT Alim McNeill

The Lions took care of two key members of their 2021 draft class — Sewell and St. Brown — and will have to make a similarly oversized offer to lock up the third foundational player they landed that spring. McNeill was in the midst of a breakout season when he sprained his knee last December and seems poised for an even bigger 2024.

Defensive tackle money has skyrocketed this offseason, so McNeill won’t come cheap. But he’s an important enough piece that I’d bet a deal gets done at some point. The franchise tag looms as leverage and the starting point for a new deal.

LT Taylor Decker

Decker made an interesting admission this offseason when he hinted that he was open to a short-term deal. Speaking in April about extension talks he said were in the “super early stages,” Decker said “nothing of substance” was going on “other than, ‘OK, we’re going to try and figure something out whether it’s multiple years or it’s not.’ ”

The Lions have committed big money to Sewell at right tackle. Decker turns 31 in August and has been an anchor at left tackle for a long time. He wants to stay in Detroit. It’s hard to imagine fourth-round pick Gio Manu being ready to take over as a starter in 2025. Signing him to a two-year (or so) extension would make sense for everyone.

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S Ifeatu Melifonwu

This is a tricky one. Melifonwu shined down the stretch last season with three sacks, two interceptions and a forced fumble in six starts. He’ll need to do it again this year — and avoid the injury bug that cost him most of his first two seasons — to set himself up for a big deal in free agency.

Surely, the Lions would like to keep another member of their 2021 draft class around, but the reality is general manager Brad Holmes came from a place (the Los Angeles Rams) that didn’t pay safeties, and the Lions would like to move Branch to safety full-time eventually. Given the injury risk, the other defensive backs in the pipeline and the chance to earn a compensatory pick (in 2026) if he leaves, I’d lean towards Melifonwu cashing in elsewhere for now.

LB Derrick Barnes

Barnes is in a similar situation to Melifonwu — he’s still young (another 2021 pick) and he’s coming off the best season of his career, but the Lions have another young linebacker (Campbell) in the pipeline.

Barnes made 81 tackles last year and had a huge interception in the playoffs. If he has similar production in 2024, I’d guess another team outbids the Lions for him in free agency.

CB Carlton Davis III

Davis said he was open to signing an extension after the Lions acquired him in a trade this offseason, and the team has no real long-term commitments at the position that would prevent them from making that happen.

This one is too early for even an educated guess, though, as both Davis’ play and the development of recent draft picks Terrion Arnold and Ennis Rakestraw Jr. could factor into the mix here. Davis turns 28 this winter. He’s not young for a cornerback anymore, but he’s not over the hill, either. If the rookies aren’t quite ready for primetime, the Lions could spend some of their free-agent dollars to keep Davis in town.

Other 2025 free agents : Davenport, Zeitler, CB Emmanuel Moseley.

2026 free agents

DE Aidan Hutchinson

This is a no-brainer on the level of Goff, St. Brown and Sewell. Hutchinson, the No. 2 pick in the 2022 draft, will be eligible for a contract extension next offseason, and I would expect the Lions to approach him about doing a deal then.

From Hutchinson’s standpoint, there’s no reason to sign early; the money at his position will keep climbing. But the same could have been said about Sewell this year. At a minimum, the Lions will exercise the fifth-year option on Hutchinson’s contract next spring and hope to get a deal done in 2026.

WR Jameson Williams

For the Lions’ other first-round pick from 2022, things aren’t quite as clear-cut, given Williams' limited production the past two seasons due to injuries and suspension. Williams’ trajectory is pointing up as a player, and he's still just 23 years old — that bodes well for the Lions wanting to keep him in town. But they’ll need to see a bigger body of work to make that happen.

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With St. Brown already making big money and no other receivers in the pipeline, I’d lean towards the Lions exercising the fifth-year option on Williams and circling back on a potential contract in 2026.

S Kerby Joseph

Joseph’s situation isn’t too different from Melifonwu’s, though he has a bigger body of work and there are more variables at play. Joseph is an ascending player who led the Lions in interceptions the past two seasons, so there’s reason to believe the Lions will try and keep him around. But Branch’s development, the state of the safety market and Melifonwu’s future could impact that decision.

Holmes has had success finding safeties on Day 2 of the draft (both in Detroit and LA), so it wouldn’t surprise me if the Lions simply didn’t believe in spending big on safeties. But Joseph has a chance this season (and next) to put up numbers too big to ignore.

LB Alex Anzalone and RB David Montgomery

I’m lumping these veterans into one entry because the same can be said for both: They were absolutely instrumental to what the Lions accomplished last season, and their futures could be dictated entirely on how well their bodies hold up the next two years.

Anzalone turns 30 this fall, Montgomery 27 in June. Both play destructive positions and will be on the backside of their careers when their contracts expire. They won’t cost a lot to keep around if that’s what the Lions want, but they’ll have to prove they have more left to give beyond their current deals.

Other 2026 free agents : Reader, CB Amik Robertson, DL Josh Paschal.

Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com . Follow him on X and Instagram at @davebirkett.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: After a spring of big-money deals, who's next in line for new contract with Detroit Lions?