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The Lions hope to trade fullback Matthew Stafford. The clock is ticking about their efforts to work out a deal.
The league year begins on March 17th. If Stafford stays on the roster on March 21, the Lions will owe Stafford a $ 10 million roster bonus.
Stafford will certainly not agree to delay payment to facilitate a trade. If the Lions do not have a viable offer for Stafford by the start of the new league year, the Lions may need to do the best they can to avoid owning $ 10 million.
Detroit’s dilemma regarding Stafford’s maximum trading value stems from the fact that it has made clear his willingness to trade. Some teams may decide to be cunning, hoping that Detroit’s expectations will soften to the point that Stafford can score far less than the Lions want for him.
The fact that only a third of the league called the Lions over Stafford, although it is now known that the Lions want to trade Stafford, supports the perception / reality that teams are waiting to get involved, hoping to let the Lions think that they won do not get what they want before March 21, and that they should simply take what they can get.
As one league source explained on Thursday, teams are constantly calling other teams across a wide range of players, even those who are not under contract. Well over ten teams should have called the Lions over Stafford by now; it is quite possible that teams will slow down the situation in an attempt to make the Lions succeed much less than they would otherwise have been able to, if other teams felt that the Lions would keep him.
That said, it does not take many teams to host an auction for Stafford’s contract. If only two teams plan to land Stafford, they could offer the prize to a level that the Lions will be happy with.
Regardless, once the window opens for official deals, the Lions do not have much time to get it done before the Lions owe Stafford another $ 10 million.