Free agents: Firkser (unrestricted), Zylstra (unrestricted)
LaPorta and Wright are both under contract through the 2026 season. It’s time to start considering a contract extension for LaPorta, a second-round pick in 2023, but Lions general manager Brad Holmes may opt to wait and see how LaPorta recovers from back surgery.
“I do think that the priorities for those players have not changed, but obviously more medical information has to be gathered,” Holmes said after the season when asked about LaPorta and safety Brian Branch entering the last year of their rookie contracts in 2026. “But we know who they are, we know what kind of players they are.
“But in terms of them suffering some season-ending injuries and the decisions that we’ve got to make off of that, there’s just a lot more information that we’re going to need to get which we will get. That’s not going to be forgotten about. So, it’s a little bit too early to say that because of those injuries happening that that’s freed up to get other guys.”
Regardless, the Lions should be focused on adding more talent to the group this offseason and it’s a great group of veteran tight ends scheduled to hit the free agent market that includes Kyle Pitts (Atlanta), Dallas Goedert (Philadelphia), Travis Kelce (Kansas City), Isaiah Likely (Baltimore), David Njoku (Cleveland), Chigoziem Okonkwo (Tennessee), Darren Waller (Miami), Charlie Kolar (Baltimore), Austin Hooper (New England) and Cade Otton (Tampa Bay).