Written by Dave Birkett at USA Today.com
Matthew Stafford’s deal is done, and the Detroit Lions quarterback is – for now, at least – the highest paid player in NFL history.
Stafford and the Lions agreed to a five-year contract extension worth $135 million on Monday, a person familiar with the contract told the Free Press. The person requested anonymity because the deal hasn’t been announced by the team.
Exact terms of the deal are not yet known, but Stafford will make an average annual salary of $27 million over the life of the contract, more than Oakland Raiders quarterback Derek Carr ($25 million) got on the five-year extension he signed in June.
The Lions opened negotiations with Stafford around the NFL combine in March, and they bridged what one person familiar with the talks described as a “significant” gap in recent weeks.
Stafford said in April that he would “love to” sign a long-term extension with the Lions, his third contract with the team that made him the No. 1 overall pick of the 2009 draft, and Lions general manager Bob Quinn had long pointed to the summer as the time he expected a deal to get done.
Stafford, 29, already holds most franchise passing records including yards (30,303), completions (2,634), attempts (4,285) and touchdowns (187), and he’s coming off arguably his best season as a pro.
Last year, Stafford, playing for the first time in his career without Calvin Johnson, led a NFL-record eight come-from-behind victories as the Lions finished 9-7 and made the playoffs as a wildcard for the third time in his nine NFL seasons.
The Lions haven’t won a playoff game since 1991, and Stafford is 51-61 in his career as a starter, including 0-3 in the postseason.
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