Matt Stafford was already a wealthy man. Now he is the richest player to ever suit up on Sunday afternoons in the NFL. Ian Rapoport tweeted out late last night that the lions are on the verge of signing Stafford to a five-year extension that would pay him $135 million. In other words, the Lions are going to make Stafford the richest man to ever put on cleats in NFL history.

Stafford is a very good QB, but….

The stats are impressive and so are his record-setting eight 4th quarter comeback wins in 2016, however, was signing Matt Stafford for five more seasons for an insane amount of cash the right move for the Lions?

Let’s look at the stats. Stafford is heading into his ninth full season of play as the Lions starting quarterback. Since being selected No. 1 overall in 2009 draft, Detroit has zero division titles, zero playoff wins and their record since Stafford took the reins is 51-58. All that being said, Stafford is a very good player, and he is definitely the best quarterback the Lions have had in decades, but to dish out a new deal that will pay him more than $30 million per season seems ludicrous. Lions fans know that Detroit had to resign Stafford, but making him the highest paid player? Well lets just say the payment doesn’t seem to fit the bill.

Stafford's new deal will be officially made public on Tuesday.

His new contract will pay him an estimated $31 million per season and keep him in Detroit through the 2022 NFL season.

Last month Oakland Raiders quarterback Derek Carr signed a deal worth a whopping $25 million annually, and current Washington Redskins quarterback Kirk Cousins will rake in $24 million this season. Cousins will most likely make $30 million or more next season when he officially becomes a free-agent.

Somewhere right now, Brett Favre has to be wishing he was born 10 years later.

Is Jake Rudock the future?

Sooner or later the Lions need to start thinking about the future. Stafford is playing at a high level, but he is also closing in on a decade of being the starting QB. As the old saying goes, you have to have a dependable second-stringer just in case.

Detroit’s backup quarterback Jake Rudock has played great this preseason. In fact, he has played so well that there are rumors that the Lions could be shopping him around. Hopefully those rumors are false, because Rudock may be one of the better backups the Lions has ever had during the Stafford era and he could learn a lot from the former Georgia star.
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