Lions Sign QB Matthew Stafford To Five-Year, $135M Extension

Adam Schefter of ESPN is reporting that the Lions and Matthew Stafford agreed to five-year contract expected to make him highest paid player in NFL history.

  • Ian Rapoport reports that Stafford’s new contract is a five-year, $135 million extension.
  • Stafford receives a $50 million signing bonus and $92 million in total guaranteed money as part of the deal, according to Adam Schefter.
  • Dave Birkett first reported that Stafford’s annual salary is $27 million.
  • According to Justin Rogers, the Lions picked up $5 million of cap space for the 2017 season by signing Stafford to this new deal.

Stafford’s new contract tops Derek Carr‘s record, five-year, $125 million contract that included $70.2 million guaranteed and will keep him under team control through the 2022 season.

The Lions had made it clear that they wanted to sign Stafford to an extension, but reports said that he was likely to shut down contract talks once the season started.

With the start of the regular season working as a deadline of sort, it appears as though negotiations between the two parties really ramped up in recent days.

Stafford, 29, is a former first-round pick of the Lions back in 2009. He was in the final year of his five-year, $76.5 million contract that included $41.5 million guaranteed and set to make a base salary of $16.5 million for the 2017 season.

In 2016, Stafford threw for 4,327 yards while completing 65.3 percent of his passes to go along with 24 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. Pro Football Focus has him rated as the No. 9 quarterback out of 34 qualifying players.

We’ll have the specifics of Stafford’s contract posted as they’re available.

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