The five-year contract extension signed by Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford has a total value of $135 million, per multiple reports. That gives the deal a new-money average of $27 million per year.
The full value at the time of signing will be less than that. With Stafford due to make $16.5 million in 2017, the new six-year deal has a total value at signing of $25.25 million.
That puts him north of the prior new-money record, secured last month by Raiders quarterback Derek Carr, who has a new-money average of $25 million but whose total six-year deal is worth roughly $21 million per year.
Critical factors still need to be evaluated, including signing bonus, full guarantee at signing, cash flow, and whether the deal contains any type of protection against ongoing spikes in the cap. By 2022, $27 million may be a middle-of-the-pack number, in the same way that Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers‘ $22 million per year in new money has faded from the top of the stack.