Matthew Stafford’s 5-Year Extension Tells Us That Jimmy Garoppolo Is Going To Be Loaded Come Free Agency

The #Lions and QB Matthew Stafford agreed on a 5-year extension worth $135M, source said. Huge.💰💰💰

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) August 29, 2017

The mere fact that Matthew Stafford was able to collect a pay day of this sum screams that Jimmy G is going to be able to soon afford whatever car and house that he wants in one or two seasons.

Now obviously there has been a ton of talk surrounding the Patriots backup quarterback, but most of it has quieted down now that we are about to head into the 2017 season. And that’s the way it should be in a perfect, Patriots world. Absolutely zero outside distractions. You ask Jimmy G about the situation and I guarantee that he says something along the lines of, “I’m just focused on week one and improving my game”.

But the simple fact of the matter is that the NFL is in a desperate need for solid quarterbacks leading teams to play good, watchable football. Even if they’ve only displayed 5 total quarters of play in the regular season. That is plenty enough to tell the league that this guy could be the next big thing in the NFL. So you know what that means? Back up the Brinks truck, baby.

Matthew Stafford was able to become the NFL’s highest paid player in the league’s history… Does that make sense? He easily isn’t the most pivotal piece to the league in regards to big-time talent, am I wrong?

Stafford is entering his 9th year of play in the NFL and with that, he and the Lions have made three postseason appearances. Within those three appearances, Stafford has not won a single one of those and had thrown 4 touchdowns total accompanied by a 63.2% completion percentage. And sure, you could blame the lack of talent around him I guess? But over the years he has had some teams worth writing home about including years where he had both Golden Tate and Calvin Johnson as receiving threats.

Aside from his post season numbers, his regular season ones aren’t that bad. Over his career he’s averaged a 61.5% completion percentage with a quarterback rating of 86.8% and back in 2011 had even thrown for 41 touchdowns. Actually, the most valuable stat that he has is probably the fact that he has played in every single regular season game since 2011 clearly displaying immense durability.

But with those good, not phenomenal stats, does that hold as a strong enough deposition to say that he is worthy of being the NFL’s top paid talent? Absolutely not.

But if that is the case, and numbers no longer need to be top tier in order to reach a top tier pay day, than expect Jimmy Garoppolo to receive a massive contract from an NFL team if things with the Patriots don’t workout.

The fact of the matter is that NFL teams are desperate right now for a franchise QB. And if any quarterback shows any minuscule spurt of a chance to be one, than prepare for a hell of a payday.

Now of course this all depends on whether or not the Patriots franchise him in regards to the timetable on this matter. But in retrospect, Garoppolo has proven that he is a capable NFL arm despite the short sample size. And because of that, expect him to be making more money than his predecessor in the coming years.

Written By: Nick Quaglia (@NickQuag)