ALLEN PARK, Mich. – Minutes after signing his three-year, $53 million contract extension Wednesday morning, Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford vowed to do everything in his power to deliver a winner in return.
It’s what Lions’ fans want to hear, but more importantly, it’s what they need to see now coming off a 4-12 season.
“I promise you no one is going to work harder than me to get this team going in the right direction, winning games and going to the playoffs multiple years in a row,” Stafford said. “That’s the plan. That’s the whole reason I signed this deal is to be here and turn this thing in the right direction and make sure it stays that way for a long time.”
Stafford’s new deal, along with the two years previously remaining on his original contract, locks him up through the 2017 season.
No Lions player has spent more time around the club’s practice facility during this offseason than the franchise quarterback.
He’s trying to become the type of leader that not only wins games, but also championships down the road.
“I’ve spent the last four years making this locker room mine,” Stafford said. “I think this (contract) helps solidify that. I think the guys in there (his teammates) understand that, know that. It’s obviously a great gesture by the club to understand that and to back me.”
Stafford, 25, will make an average of around $15 million over the next five years.
Other elite quarterbacks – Aaron Rodgers, Peyton Manning, Drew Brees – understandably are making more.
Stafford knows what he has to do to reach their status.
“Super Bowl rings,” he said. “That’s what those guys have. League MVP, Super Bowl rings, years of experience doing it.
“It’s a great opportunity for me the next four or five years to get to that level.”
Lions president Tom Lewand credited Stafford’s involvement in the negotiations for ultimately sealing the deal.
Both sides wanted to get the contract finished before training camp, which opens in two weeks, to avoid any possible lingering distractions for the team.
“He really drove this process,” Lewand said of Stafford. “It really was more about solidifying himself as the leader of this team and of that locker room than it was about every last zero or every last dollar and cent on the contract.”
Lewand said the contract has "manageable cap numbers for the duration."
The extension also helped create some more salary-cap space for the Lions for the next two years by reducing Stafford's cap hits in 2013 and 2014.
Lewand said he and Stafford already discussed that situation with questions such as “How are we going to use this room?” and “What can we do with it?”
The next mega-contract extension could be for defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh, perhaps within the next year.
“We’ve been consistent in that we want to keep our young nucleus of players together for as long as we can,” Lewand said. “With the extension we did with Calvin (Johnson) last year, now with Matthew in the fold, we’ve shown an ability to do that and we’re going to continue along those same lines with that philosophy.”
