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Lions tight end Eric Ebron catches a pass in the regular season finale against Green Bay last year.
(Mike Mulholland | MLive.com)
ALLEN PARK -- The Detroit Lions have already picked up Eric Ebron's option for 2018. Now they've opened up talks about a possible long-term extension.
"Let's just say Bob (Quinn) is my guy, and we talk often, and, you know, we have things in place," Ebron said after offseason conditioning Tuesday at team headquarters. "We've had our own talks, and he's looking for some things from me, and hopefully I can just give him what he's looking for."
And if that happens?
"Then I get to look at you guys for a couple more years," Ebron said.
Ebron, the 10th overall pick in the 2014 draft, has never quite lived up to the lofty expectations that come with being a top-10 pick -- especially when the guys picked right behind him are named Aaron Donald and Odell Beckham and Taylor Lewan.
But he has improved every season since his disappointing debut, doubling his production in Year 2, then ratcheting it up again last year to 61 catches for 711 yards. That was top 10 in the league among players at his position.
He still had some issues, including dropping seven passes, which led all tight ends, and hauling in just one touchdown. He also missed another three games because of injury, and has yet to play a full 16 games.
But Ebron said he believes he's headed for a career year if he can stay healthy in 2017.
"I'll be well beyond anything that I've done yet, if I can just maintain my health," he said.
"If I can stay healthy, I'll prove what I should have proved years ago."
To that end, Ebron has shaken up his usual offseason regimen to put more focus on injury prevention. That includes taking up Pilates at the behest of his girl, who is pregnant with his first child -- named Oliver Dash Ebron -- to improve his core strength and flexibility.
"I was shaking really bad (after my first time)," said Ebron, who was sporting a chain with his future son's name. "My legs, my core, my whole body was shaking really bad. That's all I can remember. And I could not stop sweating to save my life.
"As my girl's belly is getting big, I told her I'll try to tighten mine up to balance it out."
Told he seems to have trimmed up since the end of last season, Ebron deadpanned
"Yeah, I keep it sexy," he said. "So that's it for me. I'm done."
Just like that, the interview was over.