Stafford/Lions agree to terms

[Kevin Greene]

The first pick of the NFL draft is no longer a mystery.

The Lions have agreed to contract terms with Georgia quarterback Matthew Stafford, FOXSports.com has learned.

It is a six-year, $78 million deal, with $41.7 million guaranteed.

The two sides have been working on a deal diligently for the past 72 hours.

The team had been negotiating with Stafford and Baylor offensive tackle Jason Smith before ultimately deciding on Stafford as the target. 1

http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/9485710/Glazer:-Lions-will-take-Stafford-with-No.-1-pick

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[Black]

one down, roughly 370 to go!

[hdevonxz]

That is fuging ridiculous.

The NFL needs a damn rookie cap, jeez why not focus efforts on that instead the stupid extra 2 games to the regular season, trying to get people in the fuging neatherlands to watch the NFL.

[Woodie]

That is fugING ridiculous.

The NFL needs a damn rookie cap, jeez why not focus efforts on that instead the stupid extra 2 games to the regular season, trying to get people in the fuging neatherlands to watch the NFL.

Haven't you been paying attention, that is one of the big issues Goodell has been preaching. It will be a hot topic in the CBA discussions.

[Squirrel]

Dumbasses. They have worse need then QB.

[hdevonxz]

Haven't you been paying attention, that is one of the big issues Goodell has been preaching. It will be a hot topic in the CBA discussions.

Yeah I have been paying attention, and all they've been reporting is extra reg season games.

[Woodie]

Yeah I have been paying attention, and all they've been reporting is extra reg season games.

Then at least for today you haven't been paying attention :biggrin:. Goodell was on Mike & Mike this morning talking about the rookie wage scale and why he thinks it is good, and SportsCenter has been running the interview all day.

Actually it has been a pretty consistent topic for a while. Heck, before his death, Gene Upshaw bitched about it when Goodell first brought it up, saying he would never agree to it. So it's been out there.

[nagai]

That is fugING ridiculous.

The NFL needs a damn rookie cap, jeez why not focus efforts on that instead the stupid extra 2 games to the regular season, trying to get people in the fuging neatherlands to watch the NFL.

I tell this to everyone with your problem. The NFL is a growing franchise, the cap is getting higher and may even be non-existent next year. The only reason the vets don't all get the same money is because their contracts aren't redone every year. A number's only as big as it is in comparison to other numbers. Due to the expected growth of the NFL, these numbers will get bigger and as long as the wages are proportional to the growth, it's fine.

[hdevonxz]

I tell this to everyone with your problem. The NFL is a growing franchise, the cap is getting higher and may even be non-existent next year. The only reason the vets don't all get the same money is because their contracts aren't redone every year. A number's only as big as it is in comparison to other numbers. Due to the expected growth of the NFL, these numbers will get bigger and as long as the wages are proportional to the growth, it's fine.

Giving a person who's never played a down of NFL football 43 million dollars is not fine.

[carpanfan96]

Giving a person who's never played a down of NFL football 43 million dollars is not fine.

couldn't agree with you more. Giving a proven three year vet that, sure that's fine. Not someone who hasn't even played a NFL snap. It's ridiculous. You should have to prove yourself then get the big bucks, It's guaranteed money.... I don't see what the big deal is, are they having a problem living off 3 million a year instead of 10.

[nagai]

Giving a person who's never played a down of NFL football 43 million dollars is not fine.

As I said before, that number only sounds enormous to the layperson. Should we be paying athletes so much money in the first place? What have they done for the greater good to get this money? It's just a game of market forces. If the standard NFL starter was getting this much money or more then I bet you wouldn't be saying the same thing. It's just taking its time to get there because not every player gets a new contract every year to keep up. It's a growing phase.

[hdevonxz]

As I said before, that number only sounds enormous to the layperson. Should we be paying athletes so much money in the first place? What have they done for the greater good to get this money? It's just a game of market forces. If the standard NFL starter was getting this much money or more then I bet you wouldn't be saying the same thing. It's just taking its time to get there because not every player gets a new contract every year to keep up. It's a growing phase.

What you're saying still does not justify the 43 million dollars Stafford is getting. And I doubt you could say anything that would.

The NFL is an expanding and very marketable business, but so is the NBA and many other sports where there is a rookie cap.

Right now Stafford is guaranteed more money than anyone else in the NFL, that's ridiculous. Even if contracts were being redone every year, they still wouldn't nearly equate that number.

[carpanfan96]

As I said before, that number only sounds enormous to the layperson. Should we be paying athletes so much money in the first place? What have they done for the greater good to get this money? It's just a game of market forces. If the standard NFL starter was getting this much money or more then I bet you wouldn't be saying the same thing. It's just taking its time to get there because not every player gets a new contract every year to keep up. It's a growing phase.

That's the point, they aren't and someone who hasn't played a snap shouldn't for sure. It shouldn't be too big a deal for them to get 10 Million or less guaranteed for their first NFL contract and then work for the rest of that contract and then go for the big bucks. If the player is good enough they will get it, if not they didn't deserve the big bucks to begin with.

Seriously how hard is it to live off of 10 million in cash then 500k for 16 games. You should be able to set yourself for life with 10 million dollars.

[nagai]

That's the point, they aren't and someone who hasn't played a snap shouldn't for sure. It shouldn't be too big a deal for them to get 10 Million or less guaranteed for their first NFL contract and then work for the rest of that contract and then go for the big bucks. If the player is good enough they will get it, if not they didn't deserve the big bucks to begin with.

Seriously how hard is it to live off of 10 million in cash then 500k for 16 games. You should be able to set yourself for life with 10 million dollars.

As I said, it's a slow process. I can guarantee you that with next year's contracts, there will be heaps of big names getting more money than Stafford. This is just a temporary stop.

Oh and he's only getting a ridiculous amount if you look at the overall sum. Realize that this is a 6 year deal so if you divide it by 6, it's really not that much more than contracts last year. Pep is getting 17 million dollars a year for the tender compared to 12 from Stafford. I'm just saying that he;s not the highest paid guy in the NFL.

But nagai, don't you realize that being able to compare a rookie's contract with Pep's in itself shows the gravity of the situation? Well, there are other things to keep in mind.

1. The nature of Stafford's position. The QB gets paid more than anyone else, so that's bound to push the price up.

2. The fact that he's a no.1 pick. Of course, that shouldn't give him anywhere more than pep's money in itself, but you bet it'll push it up,

3. The lions' track record. They have nowhere else to go but up. Nothing can really delay this franchise or whatever because they have nowhere to go but up after a historic 0-16 record. They can afford to spend more money on a gamble, because quite honestly, their risk involved is a lot lower than those millions would indicate.

4. People like pep will get much more cash too. It's not that the rookies themselves are pushing the bar up, it's that the bar is constantly going up and the rookies are being paid accordingly. Sure, you'll get a few 'wtf, why is rookie X getting paid more than player Y' situations, but these are just growing pains. In hindsight we will probably realize that player Y just wasn't being paid enough due to the growth of the franchise.

5. If we go uncapped next year and we very well may considering that it's the owners ie. the people who have to deal with the cap etc. who vote on this, these worries will be minimized.

Oh and by the way, with the comparison to the other leagues, the NFL is still clearly no. 1 in all American sports. We just had the most watched superbowl ever even with the lack of stories to go with it, the league is being well received overseas and the commish is thinking about extra games in the regular season because of increased demand. It's kind of like saying that an early teenager doesn't need new shoes because his growing because someone in their late teens is slowly growing too, and he doesn't need new shoes. The size is different, and so their approach will also be different in issues like these.