With the NFL off-season in full swing, contract talks have taken a little more precedence over the upcoming season. A lot of players are underpaid at their current positions and a huge example of this is Matthew Stafford at LA Rams.
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With his current salary, the QB does not justify his Super Bowl winning status. And with the way his contract is shaped, analyst Mike Florio has speculations on what Stafford might end up doing to drive up his value.
While on his podcast, the analyst spoke about how Stafford is currently very underpaid. In fact, there are players like Jared Goff who haven’t achieved the kind of things Stafford has but surpassed him in contract values and per year money. Florio even spoke about how there could be certain actions that Stafford might take to get the due attention his contract deserves. He mentioned that there would be other QBs along with Stafford.
Florio said, “I wouldn’t be shocked if any of the 14 guys that I listed ultimately decides to stay away because that’s the ultimate way to get a team’s attention to increase the urgency. Especially if it’s a quarterback rarely do you see anything other than a rookie quarterback stay away from training camp.”
Moreover, Florio truly believes that Stafford will end up taking a step away from the training camps. And it seems like he would be well within his rights to do so. With the way he is being paid as compared to QBs like Jared Goff, a raise is most definitely for him.
The underpaid Matthew Stafford vs Jared Goff’s salary
While Florio has been speculating about Stafford’s status and his salary, he also spoke about how the QB has been treated with respect to the way the quarterback market is functioning right now. In comparison to other players in his position on other teams, Stafford is clearly underpaid.
His contemporary at Detroit Lions, Jared Goff has gone on to sign a contract of $212 million. This means that he’ll be getting an average of $53 million per year. In contrast, Stafford still remains to be paid at only $29.5 million per year. Jared Goff was taken away from the Rams and Stafford replaced him to win them a Super Bowl. But today Goff’s contract becomes the north star for Stafford.
While Goff is getting almost double the amount Stafford is paid, Goff’s achievements aren’t close to what Stafford has achieved. While Goff remains ringless, Stafford has been quite effective for the LA Rams.
With a win in the 2022 season, the Rams were able to beat the Joe-Burrow-led Cincinnati Bengals with Stafford at the helm. With his past performances, Stafford has proven how well he can perform on the field. It only remains to be seen if Stafford will be sitting out of practice to drive up his own contract price the way Florio envisions.
