Detroit Lions and Matthew Stafford agree on contract extension

The big deal everyone has been expecting is done as the Detroit Lions and Matthew Stafford have reportedly agreed on a contract extension.

It may have taken a little longer than some fans hoped or expected but Matthew Stafford and the Detroit Lions have reportedly agreed on the much-anticipated contract extension. ESPN’s Adam Schefter broke the news on Twitter Monday evening.

The Lions made the official announcement shortly thereafter.

It may have caused some consternation and surprise when the start of training camp hit without an extension being done but Stafford’s agent, Tom Condon, has a history of getting similar deals done on a similar timeline to what we saw play out here.

In the end, the deal gets done without lingering into the regular season or worse yet, beyond. The Lions could have kept Stafford a Lion without an extension via the franchise tag. Playing out two years on the franchise tag would have netted Stafford around $60 million for 2018 and 2019.

Doing a deal now means Stafford won’t be going the Kirk Cousins route. According to the numbers reported by Ian Rapoport, doing so means sacrificing some in terms of annual average salary in exchange for the security of getting a deal done now. It’s still a record-breaking deal, putting Stafford at an annual average of $27 million.

https://twitter.com/RapSheet/status/902353429833666565

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The Stafford deal getting done means Ziggy Ansah is the highest-profile player not yet under contract beyond this season. There is no indication that a long-term deal is in the works for him right now however, and Ansah remains on the PUP list. One big key to getting the long-term deal done with Stafford is it frees up the franchise tag to possible use to retain Ansah.