On Monday, per NFL.com, the Detroit Lions "started gathering the money bags." That's because they decided to break out the checkbook to retain star quarterback Matthew Stafford in a contract extension that runs through 2022. The 29-year-old's new salary over that five-year period: $135 million, or about $27 million per year, making him the league's highest-paid player ever, per ESPN. Of that amount, $92 million is guaranteed, including a $50 million signing bonus.
NFL.com notes that this new level of payday could open the floodgates for other quarterbacks and that "it's only a matter of time before we end up seeing a $30 million per year quarterback in the NFL." One person who's especially excited about the news: Stafford's wife, Kelly, who posted a short clip of their beaming twin baby daughters on Instagram with the caption: "When daddy and mommy whispered to us we would be spending 6 more years in Detroit … hope y'all are as excited as we are!" (More Detroit Lions stories.)
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