Detroit Lions: Without Matthew Stafford extension, situation could get dire
By Zac Snyder
News of contract extension progress between the Detroit Lions and Matthew Stafford has been hard to come by, but there is still optimism for a deal.
The Oakland Raiders and Derek Carr have finalized their mega-deal and Kirk “Kurt” Cousins and the Washington Redskins were unable to reach a long-term agreement, leaving him on the franchise tag. With those situations resolved – at least for the 2017 season – that leaves Matthew Stafford as the next man up. With one year remaining on his contract with the Detroit Lions, both sides have appeared willing to get an extension done but news regarding progress has been light as training camp draws near.
That could be taken as a bad sign, especially if Stafford is inclined to go the Cousins route. The franchise tag is usually a big leverage play for teams, but Cousins has used it to his advantage. Stafford could do the same if he’s willing to take some risk. Stafford would be due $26.1 million on the franchise tag in 2018 and almost $31.7 million if he was tagged a second time.
That puts Stafford in line for $58 million over two years (2018-2019) – a number his representation will surely use in frameworking a long-term deal with the Lions. A $26.1 million franchise tag is palatable for the Lions considering Carr’s deal and where Stafford is expected to be on an extension. It’s after 2018 that things could get tricky.
According to Overthecap.com, Matthew Stafford has never accounted for more than 14.5% of the team’s total salary cap in a given season. We don’t know exactly what the salary cap will be in 2019, but Over the Cap has it projected at $190 million. A 2019 franchise tag of $31.7 million would be 16.7% of the total. Tenable, maybe, but not where a team wants to be for just a one-year commitment.
That would see the Lions in a position the Redskins are in now. Either keep paying up with higher and higher dollar amounts, or let an established starting quarterback hit the open market. It’s easy to get a sense of doom when watching the Cousins situation play out and looking at the numbers facing Stafford if he chooses a similar route. However, that may be premature.
On NFL Network’s NFL Total Access last night, Stacey Dales gave some hope for optimism that an extension may not be far off.
"The number one priority, the next most important thing for Detroit, for the City of Detroit, is re-inking Matthew Stafford to a new deal. He’s in the final year of a three-year extension, dating back to 2013. In talking with a couple people who know this team, interestingly, there is internal optimism they are going to get something done in the next two weeks. That’s the time frame they’re looking at. Matthew Stafford has been outspoken, he does not want this negotiation extending into training camp."
Internal optimism is good, but many fans will be quick to point out there was internal optimism as negotiations took place with Ndamukong Suh. That’s a much different situation for a variety of reasons and optimism sure beats pessimism right now. As long as both sides are committed to getting a deal done – and there is no indication so far that they aren’t – then there is no reason why Stafford can’t start training camp as the newly-crowned highest paid player in NFL history.
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As is often said in the NFL, deadlines drive deals. The start of training camp may not be a hard deadline, but it should be one enough to choose which path that situation heads down. If an extension isn’t done, things could get messy in the future.