STAFFORD subsidizes DETROIT!!

Love him or hate him Matthew Stafford is the face of the Detroit Lions and possibly the City of Detroit as a whole for the foreseeable future. The Lions and Stafford as many of you know already came to terms on an agreement Monday night. The 5 year new contract made Stafford the highest paid player in the NFL history at least for a few weeks anyway. The deal will pay Stafford an average annual salary of 27 million dollars. The deal also possibly guarantees him a record of 92 million dollars. The deal also included a 50 million dollar signing bonus. He is getting 60.5 million dollars at the time of signing and will make 86 million dollars by the start of year two. Lions General Manager Bob Quinn in his short ten year has been good and I do not see any reason to believe he doesn’t know what he is doing with this new contract for Stafford either.

                So with the ink barely dry on the new record breaking contract the obvious question to Lions fans would be do you feel Stafford is worth that kind of money? J. MASS says of course he is worth it! The Stafford haters out there will disagree vehemently. They will say things like Stafford hasn’t won one single playoff game. They will say he isn’t even a top 5 quarterback in the league. The haters will also even possibly say that he was injury prone at the beginning of his career and that could happen again especially now that he got paid.

                Let’s break down the haters points and see if we can change some minds or at least win over some fence sitters on the issue. First let’s start with the haters last point the injuries before and possibility of injuries in the future. Now is it possible for anyone to get injured at any time in football? Of course it is its football and professional football at that. However, let’s look at Stafford.  Did he miss some games in the first two years? Yes he did but he has definitely showed time and time again since then that he is as tough as nails! Oh yeah and last time I checked this was the beginning of the 2017 season and Stafford has started every single game at QB for the Lions since 2011. That is an awful long run for someone who is allegedly injury prone and fragile. Maybe the reality is he was never fragile the offensive line was just that bad until it wasn’t as bad. Second point of the haters Stafford isn’t even a top 5 quarterback in the league. While this is true he is however in the top 10. Every single analyst, coach and even NFL players will tell you Stafford is anywhere from number 7 to number 10. You don’t have to take my word for that look it up. With that being said as a Lions fan or causal football fan you have to ask yourself the question. Does he make other players around him better? The answer is yes, take his number one receiver right now Golden Tate. Golden Tate has put up his best numbers in his career as a Detroit Lion with Matt Stafford as his QB not when he was in Seattle with Russell Wilson. What about his number two receiver Marvin Jones? Marvin put up the best numbers of his career last year as a Detroit Lion with Stafford not when he was in Cincinnati with Andy Dalton as his QB. Let’s talk about Stafford’s career numbers.   Stafford has thrown for a 61.5 pass complete percentage in his career. Stafford has thrown for 187 Touchdowns and has put up 30,303 yards passing so far. The final and in some people’s minds best argument the haters have that he has not won a single playoff game in his career.  While this is true he is 0-3 in playoff games thus far.
                         

                           
                  However, let us not forget the embarrassment of going 0-16 for one and secondly the Lions have only been to 4 playoff games in my entire life time. Want to take a guess what quarterback was at the helm for 3 of those 4 playoff appearances you guessed Matt Stafford. Not to make excuses but we should have won the playoff game against Dallas but that’s an argument for a different day.  Am I ready to actually win a playoff game? Of course I am but with Stafford at QB I like our chances to actually get back and win a playoff game. So back to the original question is Stafford worth the money? The answer is a hardy Hell Yes, because where else are you going to find an arm like his, that is a top 10 QB and has the guts to pull off 4^th quarter wins in the clutch like he has time and time again.  Lastly and most obviously if you have been watching the Lions as long as I have or even longer for some of you, then you definitely remember what past Lions QB’s have looked like pre Matt Stafford.   Something always has to be said for a hard working guy that said from the beginning he wanted to get a deal done and stay in Detroit! Especially after the way SUH left town, Johnson retired and the Levy saga played itself out. So congrats to Matt Stafford and his family as well as the Detroit Lions family and faithful as I for one will enjoy watching number 9 in the Honolulu Blue and Silver for years to come. Badnatives Podcast fans will definitely see host J Mass rocking that number 9 in Podcast to come in the future. Stay tuned for more Badnatives Sports coming periodically throughout the football season. Peace one Love Detroit!!!!

                               Written by J. MASS