Lions undecided about Eric Ebron’s future

Allen Park — The Detroit Lions still have not decided Eric Ebron’s future with the organization beyond this year.

Despite holding a fifth-year option on the tight end’s contract for 2018, Lions general manager Bob Quinn said the team has not decided whether they are going to exercise it. The Lions have until May 2 to make a decision.

“It’s just something we’ve talked very little about the past couple months,” Quinn said during a press conference on Thursday. “Deadline is coming up in two weeks, so we’ll spend the next two weeks discussing it. We’ll kind of see how it goes.”

Quinn acknowledged he had an idea what he was going to do, but his mind was not made up. He also said what happens in the draft could impact the decision.

“It’s a possibility,” Quinn said. “We’ll use our time.”

The Lions selected Ebron, 24, with the 10th pick in the 2014 draft and he’s steadily increased his production each of his first three seasons, peaking with 61 receptions for 711 yards. He has had some durability issues, missing multiple games each season, including three last year.

As a top-10 pick, the fifth-year option would pay Ebron the average of the 10 highest-paid players at his position. That would pay him more than $8 million in 2018.

The Lions have been aggressively researching the tight end position during the pre-draft process, including doing homework on top prospects O.J. Howard and David Njoku. It’s expected they’ll add a tight end at some point during next week’s draft.

jdrogers@detroitnews.com

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