Skip to main content

Matthew Stafford gets $17.5 million from Detroit Lions

Fridays are fantastic. The anticipation of the weekend spurs positive motivations, optimism of revelry and signals an end to the week's grind.

For some, this last Friday in February also signifies one other great positive: payday.

Some people's Fridays, however, are better than others.

One man likely having a better day than you or I is Matthew Stafford.

No, not because he is a young, franchise quarterback, with a smoking-hot girlfriend, cannon arm and can wear his hat any way he pleases. Those are true every day.

This Friday is different for the Detroit Lions quarterback because he gets paid, with a capital P. Stafford got paid to the tune of $17.5 million.

All of that money in one day. He should ask for one of those Happy Gilmore checks. (What does a 26-year-old, who already can buy anything he wants, purchase on his $17.5 million payday?)

The payment is part of the $27.5 million signing bonus Stafford received last season with his $53 million extension. Friday's portion of the bonus was deferred to this season, and the balance is due today, per the Detroit Free Press.

A deferred payment is nothing new, nor will it change the Lions' salary cap situation. But the thought of the enormous payday for the 26-year-old is just another reminder that these men who play NFL football don't live in the same world as the rest of us.

The latest edition of the "Around The League Podcast" discusses the top 101 free agents and forecasts the offseasons of the Baltimore Ravens and Kansas City Chiefs.