Some scoffed when Patriots quarterback Tom Brady put his Boston house up for sale. They’re not scoffing now.
Will they scoff in response to the latest franchise quarterback with a For Sale in the front yard of his local home? Via Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press, Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford‘s Bloomfield Township home is on the market. The asking price? A mere $6.5 million.
The timeline here is fascinating. Stafford conducted a video conference with reporters on Thursday, at which time news of the house being for sale hadn’t emerged. The next morning, it has.
On Thursday, Stafford downplayed rumors and reports that the Lions were shopping him, which emerged out of nowhere in February.
“I really don’t pay too much attention to [the trade rumors],” Stafford said, via Birkett. “I pay less attention to them than my wife does. But it’s something that doesn’t bother me. Listen, I’m here, I want to be here. I love being a Detroit Lion, I love leading this team. All that kind of stuff is just out there to be out there. It’s a slow news month at that point and I’m just happy to be where I am and ready to deal with this offseason the way that it is and try to make the best of the season that I hope happens.”
While Stafford may have an explanation for his decision to sell his local home that meshes with his desire to remain with the Lions, it didn’t come up on Thursday because no one knew his house was for sale.
Stafford, per Birkett, also has homes in California and Georgia. When trade chatter first surfaced, his wife expressed an interest in having Matthew land with the Chargers. Now that they have added rookie Justin Herbert with the sixth overall pick in the draft, that’s likely not an option for 2021 or beyond.
Regardless of what it all means or doesn’t mean for Stafford’s tenure with the Lions, here’s something that makes the house even more attractive: It includes an indoor, half basketball court made from the Detroit Pistons’ floor when they played at the Silverdome.