DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Pure Football Forum Matthew Stafford is the highest paid football player ever (five year extension, $92 million guaranteed)

Not a surprise .....

And the next big name QB who gets a new deal will be the next "highest paid ever".

I agree. It's just weird. Aaron Rodgers is due for an extension -- he's going to get paid.

People need to keep this in mind when discussing Crow's upcoming negotiations. It isn't about who is best. Rather, it is about who is the most recent.

The thing is that running backs just don't get paid. Devonta Freeman is one of the best in the league and he just got the same contract Steven Jackson got in 2008.

You got to think that teams like the Browns and Lions have to throw big paydays around to retain and/or attract decent players. Its not like the Lions are in the shoot for the next Super Bowl. Stafford understand that he might as well get his money now while he can because no other team would pay remotely in the same ballpark.

If Stafford was a free agent he might make more. Just look at Kirk Cousins' situation.

All of these QB contracts are based off each other. First it was Wilson, then Luck, then Carr, then Stafford, and so on and so forth.

I'll stick by my original point that being the most recently paid carries more weight than being the best.

I think I must've miscommunicated my point. I didn't mean to infer that the most recent running backs don't get paid the most, just that running back contracts aren't usually oppressive in the way QB contracts are.

That list you posted is pretty crazy. Le'Veon Bell is "playing" under the franchise tag. LeSean McCoy signed his contract in 2015. Doug Martin signed his contract in March of 2016 and the Buccaneers were thinking about releasing him. Zeke Elliott and Leonard Fournette are on their rookie deals. Lamar Miller was the "big money" free agent running back last off-season and he got $14 million guaranteed. Chris Ivory signed his contract last off-season and then the Jaguars drafted Fournette (and he only got $10 million guaranteed). DeMarco Murray was traded after one season with the Eagles (after signing a big contract). Giovani Bernard signed an extension with only $5 million in guarantees. And Latavius Murray signed for only $3.4 million guaranteed. That is not a lot of money tied up in the running back position (all the money is going to quarterbacks, people who pressure the QB, and wide receivers). The league has really changed.

https://overthecap.com/contracts

by all accounts, Stafford is a great guy and teammate ... and he's endured being a part of a losing franchise. I always kind of root for Detroit

My initial point was--and it still is--that people shouldn't freak out if Crow asks for top 4 RB money.

The league has really changed....ya think, remember when after the season NFL stars went to their real jobs...how much money did Jim Brown make in his best YEAR....yes, things have changed......GO Browns!!!!

He was making $60k in 1965 before he walked away. In today's dollars that was the equivalent of $462k.

Real question, how many people were watching the NFL in 1965 compared to today?

j/c:

Stafford has seemed to flourish with Jim Bob Cooter as OC.

You just wanted to type Jim Bob Cooter.

(So did I.)

Yep...I almost wrote that in at the bottom of my post. Good call!

I wrote that on the bathroom wall at a rest area in Kentucky.

https://twitter.com/AdamSchefter/status/903390571401797632