00:14okay so yesterday sam laporta spoke about his contract situation there was a bunch of stuff
00:19that took place with the lions and uh we'll start gearing up for this weekend's games uh coming up
00:25but laporta um there was some real insight and there's a great story by the birchie kid who does
00:31a great job reporting and covering our teams does a lot of research honestly does a lot of heavy
00:35lifting for us when you need to know stuff he'll put in all the details do the do the legwork
00:41the
00:41homework and try and put things into context uh very good reporter and you can read his stuff on
00:46971 the ticket.com uh he's kind of a boring personality but other than that he's a good guy
00:52uh so birchie was writing about laporta and wrote that he's optimistic that he will get a deal done
00:59in detroit i'm gonna read from part of this um and you know he said the organization took a chance
01:05on
01:05me and drafted me it was a very deep tight end class this year and i came out in 20
01:10when i came
01:10out in 2023 there's been a lot of great tight ends that have come out of that class some of
01:15which have
01:15gotten paid some of which are younger than me and gotten paid that's all i can comment on other than
01:19i'm gonna keep doing my thing keeping my head down and working hard story goes on to later say
01:25laporta was the second tight end off the board in 2023 34 overall and one of nine tight ends to
01:32go
01:32in the first three rounds michael mayer of the raiders who went one pick after laporta signed a
01:38three-year 45 million dollar extension at the start of the season but his numbers don't come close to
01:42laporta's tucker craft of the packers went in the third round of that year's draft signed a four-year
01:4875 million dollar extension at the start of this season that makes him the third highest paid tight
01:52end in the league at 18.75 million per year laporta is likely aiming for more craft has 128 catches
02:001,699 yards and 16 touchdowns laporta more catches 208 more yards 2,332 and more touchdowns 22
02:08since entering the league laporta ranks third among tight ends in receiving yards and fourth and
02:14touchdowns highest paid tight end in the nfl's george kiddall the niners 19.1 million per year
02:19if craft is worth 18.75 million per year laporta could make the case that he's worth at least 20
02:26million which would make him the highest paid tight end and that might be the hang-up of negotiations
02:31with the lions also budgeting for a new deal for brian branch who just returned to practice after a torn
02:37achilles later the story says laporta plays about 90 of the snaps per game his value to the lions
02:43offense was made clear last season when the unit crumbled without him a deteriorating offensive line
02:49played a part in detroit slide as well but the loss of laporta hindered the lions on the ground and
02:54through the air now initially you go pay the man but i'm not surprised that the lions offer
03:04originally was low because they got to pay him and they got to pay branch and the part of this
03:11story
03:11that i i i want to be cognizant of something that happens in contract negotiations and i want to
03:18establish this up front all the talk around contracts that get out publicly simply can be part of the
03:24negotiation process right you things get exaggerated teams will lowball you agents will ask for more than
03:30they're willing to settle for right you and then you typically one side comes up the other side comes
03:35down you meet in the middle but and and stalemates are exaggerated as well right it's all part of the
03:42negotiating process but if it's not okay if this really is some sort of legitimate stalemate
03:49this can get potentially tough it can be a it can be a paradox of what you want and what
03:54you need
03:56if you talk about what you want you want laporta and branch what you need is branch and and i
04:05don't
04:05know that a case can be made that branch a healthy branch which has yet to play itself out and
04:11they
04:11they very well they should wait and see but a team with this team in this context with who they
04:18have
04:20and what they're putting on the field they need branch they need him and i you don't want to lose
04:28laporta but i don't know how you can prioritize laporta over branch and i'm not saying they are
04:35but if this is a true stalemate and what laporta is asking for might dig into what they could get
04:40branch for i i think they have to be very careful here potentially well they've got the two players and
04:46i think it would behoove the lions to just wait on both i i don't have any issue with the
04:51lions or
04:52it sounds like it's the lions that broke off the extension talks i think they should let's just
04:56let the season play out you've got two guys that obviously you want to bring back but you have to
05:02see what happens both players are coming off injury both players coming off surgery i love that laporta
05:07is seemingly injury free and he and he you know not kind of wood here and he says it feels
05:12great doctors
05:13say the scans look great and all that and he's even the way he talked when he was talking with
05:18all the other media members it sounded like it's possible the lions might get a discount though not
05:23likely i mean because he's going to have to set the market but that's going to last all of 10
05:27minutes
05:28you know and that's how it works but um i i think in the same situation with branch you want
05:34to see
05:34him play he hasn't played yet okay he might play after the bye week uh looks likely to see him
05:40there
05:41and we'll see where he is and how he progresses and my guess is and i agree with you safety
05:46is the
05:46bigger issue because kirby joseph could be done for his career and they don't have any options of
05:52safety they need brian branch and he's and he's great so let's do that with laporta i almost feel
05:58like if you really want to have sam laporta back but you you feel uncomfortable about 20 million
06:04franchise yeah i mean that's the thing and that it sucks but you're gonna say the players hate it
06:10you're gonna save a few million dollars it's a one-year thing and you don't have to worry about
06:17oh signing bonus this and all that no no it's just one year boom you got it and it'll be
06:22for next year
06:23and then he can make a decision after that do you want to extend him after that point or do
06:27you want
06:27to franchise him again i doubt it um but maybe you do because if sam laporta is truly one of
06:33the best
06:33tight ends in the league numbers dictate that he is yeah well i mean he's one of yeah but i
06:39think
06:39there's a there's a gap between a couple guys and and then and sam but he's he's right there
06:43so yeah i i think do what's best for the for the team which is probably not signing him and
06:50give him
06:50the the uh franchise tag in the offseason now you would have to at some point like i don't i
06:56don't
06:57think i'm not endorsing trading him okay i know that if this is if they're way way way apart and
07:03some
07:03team can offer you you can cash in your tight end for a great secondary piece which feels like
07:09it would be a very weird trade to pull off because what team any team that would want laporta is
07:13probably trying to contend given his contracts are going to be up soon and you know who's going to
07:19give up a if you're trying to contend who's going to give up a great secondary piece to get a
07:24great
07:24tight end uh it just i don't know that it makes makes a ton of sense it would take a
07:29unique situation
07:30to find a team with excess secondary talent and matching up with the lions excesses right exactly
07:35yeah but i but they but they don't have excess tight ends right i mean and no but they have
07:40excess
07:40offense yeah they have excess offense and they have excess weapons and you can make a case that what
07:44devalues laporta in detroit's offense is at best he's the third option right i mean amon ra and jamo
07:53one and two or amon ra and gibbs even look a trade could very well be an option i don't
07:58think it's a
07:58it's a strong one but i'm also not going to be terribly surprised if they were to pull something
08:03like that off because they are kind of desperate on the back end and if you could find a team
08:08that
08:08fits then go ahead and do it but i don't know what the likelihood of that happening is i don't
08:12think
08:12it's it's strong i think that the the probably stronger option to go with is what they're doing
08:18exactly right now going to table it to the end of the season even laporta says hey i'd sign something
08:22in the middle of the season you know but it the right deal has to come along and it doesn't
08:26sound
08:26like the lions want to negotiate right now and fine okay everybody's on the same same plane here
08:32we all want laporta back but cost is going to be an issue now and i think we would all
08:38agree here
08:39that we're not counting out the possibility or the probability that they can sign them both
08:46right are we counting i think they can probably get them both i think they can absolutely well yeah
08:51because they're going to have to it's likely that they'll have to restructure a contract and they
08:56have several more that they can restructure so yeah they can absolutely get this done and this is the
09:01where now you really look at a legitimate window of opportunity to win a super bowl by hanging on to
09:06these guys this is where you have it because you're going to define it by having to pay the piper
09:11down
09:11the road well when is that four years from now three years from now when everything comes due
09:15that's going to be the problem two four eight five three nine 97 97 if either a you disagree with
09:21us
09:21or b um you don't have anything else to add that hasn't been said uh and i'm i'm a big
09:27believer that
09:27offense wins championships and i don't want to really cut into this lions team strength which is their
09:33offense can i see a world where they can survive moving forward without this tight end and and your
09:41idea of franchising yep look the contract expire franchise i'm keeping for two years
09:45here and then in that time you can acquire your next tight end uh at some point in the draft
09:51to
09:51make it a priority in the draft but i'm not in favor of trading him now i am in favor
09:56of them
09:57bolstering what they have and and that's why i don't want to keep crying over spilled milk giving
10:03joey porter jr laporta's money uh felt like something that would appeal to me and i thought would appeal to
10:09the lions uh but again i'll stick by my hunch i think the lions are going to do something i
10:14think they're
10:14going to there's in my view there's absolutely no way that brad holmes has got his feet up on his
10:19desk and has watched his defense and is like yeah we're good i know what he said publicly we like
10:25our guys but that's what he's going to say that's what he's going to say about who he has until
10:29he
10:29can add to it well his actions are going to speak pretty loudly at the trade deadline and leading up
10:34should if they make a move which we all hope that they will make it feels as though and i
10:39saw some
10:39reporting that there's some younger gms in this league that are going to spawn a lot more trades
10:44at the trade deadline so um something to keep an eye on with our detroit lions okay straight ahead
10:51let's do the nfl blitz thingy it's karshen anderson 97 one
10:54anderson no
10:54um
