It's official. Jahmyr Gibbs signed his three-year extension with the Lions, a deal worth $67.5 million that can climb to $75.75 million with incentives and includes $51.5 million guaranteed. That's not just a nice raise for a 23-year-old — it makes him the highest-paid running back the league has ever seen.
Adam Schefter broke the news the day before with all the numbers attached, and Todd France, Gibbs' agent at Athletes First, confirmed the terms. The deal averages $22.5 million per year, which doesn't sound like much until you realize it edges out every other back in football, including the guy who set the market just days earlier.
That guy is Bijan Robinson. Gibbs' deal beats Robinson's Falcons extension by a hair — Robinson landed 3 years and $67M with $51M guaranteed, and Gibbs topped him by $500K. Sleeper's account laid out the gap in stark terms, and even Gibbs got in on the trolling once the numbers dropped.
Gibbs needles Bijan Robinson over making $500K more in their dueling extensions.
The running back market has been moving fast all offseason, and Schefter's breakdown shows just how fast: entering the summer there was exactly one $20 million-per-year back in the league. Now there are three — Gibbs, Robinson, and Jonathan Taylor — all minted within the same week. For years the conventional wisdom in front offices was that running backs are replaceable and shouldn't get paid, a stance that tanked the market after guys like Todd Gurley and Le'Veon Bell got big deals and got cut soon after. Gibbs, Robinson and Taylor just blew that theory up in real time.
For Detroit, this is just the latest name added to a payroll that already reads like a core-keeping manifesto. Schefter's rundown of Lions extensions shows the pattern: Aidan Hutchinson, Jared Goff, Amon-Ra St. Brown, Penei Sewell, Kerby Joseph — the front office has made a habit of paying its own before they hit the open market, and Gibbs is just the newest example.
Gibbs was the No. 12 overall pick out of Alabama in 2023, and he's turned into exactly the dual-threat weapon Detroit hoped for — 1,223 rushing yards, 616 receiving yards and 18 total touchdowns in 2025 alone, and 3 Pro Bowl nods already. The Lions picked up his fifth-year option back in April, but talks on a long-term deal dragged into training camp, with Gibbs sticking around for meetings while sitting out practice reps in what became a low-key hold-in. That standoff is over now, and Detroit's backfield is locked in for the foreseeable future.