by: Chris Sullivan
That is, reportedly, according to a source on the inside of the negotiations: Matt Stafford. Rumor around the league is that Stafford has told his Georgia teammates that he and the Lions have all but agreed on contract terms (somewhere in the neighborhood of $40 million guaranteed). There is of course the strange bit about this story that Matt Stafford would appear to be virtually bragging about being a Lion, something never known to have occurred before in NFL history. First time for everything? We'll find out in coming weeks.
Assuming that Stafford is a Lion does not do too much to clear up the draft picture, really. That's been the assumed pick (more or less) since 2008. This leaves the Rams with their choice of bolstering their very in-need-of-bolstering O-Line with either Eugene Monroe or Jason Smith, or opting to give Spagnuolo the anchor of his defense in Aaron Curry. Assuming they go with the top rated guy on the board (Smith, for most people), that leaves the Chiefs with a similar choice - Monroe, Curry, Orakpo.
The Seahawks, as expected, will likely be selecting between Monroe/Curry, Crabtree, Sanchez or the Tim Ruskell special (Jake Ingram?). In other words, we know pretty much nothing more than we knew this time yesterday, except that there is a slightly higher chance that Stafford won't be on the board by the time we're picking, effectively decreasing the chance we take him from ~3% to ~1%.
|