The Raiders wanted quarterback Matthew Stafford. They made their pitch. Shot their shot. And it didn’t work out.
At the end of the day, the Raiders (and to a similar extent the Giants) served as Stafford’s leverage in his effort to get the Rams to give him more money.
According to TheAthletic.com, the Raiders were willing to give Stafford a two-year deal in the range of $90 million to $100 million. That would have put his average salary at $45 million to $50 million.
The report also suggests that a second-round pick might have gotten the deal done with the Rams, if Stafford ultimately had wanted to leave L.A. As mentioned on Friday’s PFT Live, we’d heard the magic number was a second-round pick — which created the impression that the Rams wouldn’t have been too upset about letting him go.
But Stafford decided to stay. The specifics regarding his new deal have not yet emerged.
Stafford has two years left on his current contract. He’s due to make $27 million in 2025 and $31 million in 2026, for a total of $58 million and an average of $29 million. The Rams will presumably enhance the cash for the next two years with voidable years that spreads the cap charge.
Stafford has every right to want more than Jared Goff’s $53 million per year. If the Raiders (and perhaps the Giants) were offering something in the range of $45 million to $50 million annually, Stafford likely fell short of matching Goff.
Maybe the contract will include incentives that can get Stafford there, based on how he performs. Or maybe the new contract will add some phony-baloney non-guaranteed salaries beyond 2026 that will drive up the new-money average.
Regardless, four years after arriving from Detroit, Stafford decided not to leave L.A. Which means he’ll be getting more than $29 million per year over the next two years. The actual amount that his flirtation with the Raiders and the Giants squeezed from Stan Kroenke’s coffers remains to be seen.
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