Detroit Lions Matthew Stafford’s contract follows that of Derek Carr of the Oakland Raiders and others before them that make them the highest paid in the National Football League.
Combined playoff victories for these quarterbacks: zero.
Stafford has been around a lot longer than Carr has of course but their teams are putting a lot of money on the line to the tune of 15 per cent of their salary cap for unproven quarterbacks who have won squat.
I know in the NFL, it’s the mindset of you can’t win without a quarterback but how can you win without anything but a quarterback. Do you know why the Patriots win without Tom Brady. He makes far less than most quarterbacks and the team can spend elsewhere to stack their team.
Great scouting helps too, of course, but what the Lions and Raiders have done this off-season is make it immediate that they get wins before other players start coming with their hand out. Oakland will have to pay Khalil Mack top end defensive end money and have over 20 per cent of their salary on two players.
Will it give? No. The price has been set.
And Tom and the Patriots will be laughing all the way to the Super Bowl, while Carr and Stafford laugh all the way to the bank.