Tenants asking for 1yr lease instead of month-to-month

[Piper D.]

First post but I’ve been reading here for a while!  I searched for a similar post but couldn't find anything recent that would take the current covid/moratorium situation into account.  

My tenants are not quite halfway through their 1 year lease, and they’re asking for me to sign a lease renewal already, but want me to agree to another 1 year contract, instead of the month-to-month our lease will convert to at that time.

Is it standard to commit to this so early? Other than a few minor issues, they are a very nice family and have been decent tenants so far, keeping the house up, and paying on time. If they stay like this, I have no problem at all continuing to rent to them beyond the 1 year mark. However, I know a 1 yr lease will essentially lock me in more than them in reality. Watching how this eviction moratorium keeps getting extended with more and more stipulations regarding eviction, I would honestly be relieved having the flexibility of a month-to-month, just in case. 

I ended up renting out this property only by circumstance, and have not yet decided if I will eventually sell it, or move back in, or continue renting it out. When they moved in, they mentioned their plan was to rent for a bit and then purchase a home. So, I figured at the 1 year mark when the lease went month to month I would get the option of not renewing the lease (obviously with more than adequate notice).  And, if things were going well, I would just let them continue on a month-to-month basis.  

The house is in a very tenant-friendly state, it's my only rental property and a SFH. The area it's in is desirable and very hard to find rentals. I can see how the tenants might be getting antsy looking at the current market and wanting to have a definitive plan for the future. I don't want to be a jerk because I wouldn't want to be a renter in this market, yet I am hesitant to agree to something right at this time. Perhaps I'm being overly paranoid.

Also, if I verbally agree to it now, is it really necessary to get another lease signed this early, before the current lease has even ended?