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Lions hope to replace quarterback Matthew Stafford. Time is running out in your efforts to reach an agreement.
The league year starts on March 17th. If Stafford remains on the list until March 21, Lions owe Stafford a $ 10 million bonus on the list.
Stafford will certainly not agree to delay this payment to facilitate trade. If Lions don’t have a viable offer for Stafford by the launch of the league’s new year, Lions may have to do their best to prevent him from owing $ 10 million.
Detroit’s dilemma when it comes to maximizing Stafford’s commercial value comes from the fact that she made her willingness to trade him clear. Some teams may decide to be timid, hoping that Detroit’s expectations will soften to the point that Stafford will be stolen for much less than Lions hope to get for him.
The fact that only a third of the league has summoned Lions to Stafford, although it is now known that Lions want to change Stafford supports the perception / reality that teams are waiting to get involved, in the hope of making Lions think they won not they will get what they want before March 21 and they may just have to take what they can.
As a league source explained on Thursday, teams constantly call other teams about a wide variety of players, even those who are not under contract. Many more than 10 teams should have called Lions about Stafford by now; it is entirely possible for teams to slow the situation down in an effort to make Lions attack much less than they would otherwise be able to, if other teams thought there was a chance that Lions would keep it up.
That said, not many teams are needed to start an auction under the Stafford contract. If only two teams intend to land Stafford, they can offer the price at a level that Lions will be satisfied with.
Regardless, once the window opens for the official conduct of negotiations, Lions will not have much time to complete it before Lions owe Stafford another $ 10 million.