Lions, Matthew Stafford come to terms - SI.com - NFL Draft

There will not be a holdout with the top pick in the 2009 NFL draft. The Detroit Lions and agents for Georgia quarterback Matthew Stafford reached an agreement on a record-setting contract that will pay Stafford a guaranteed $41.7 million.

almost 3 years ago NESilver 3 comments 0 recs |

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I just don't get it.

I just don’t get the idea of signing your draft pick before the draft itself. I may seem a bit old-fashioned here on this, but whatever happened to picking a player in the draft and THEN signing him afterwards? Is it that hard to do it that way?

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by R_Adragna on Apr 25, 2009 12:29 AM EDT reply actions

Improve leverage

I believe the teams do it to improve leverage. Until the draft they can at least threaten to take another player – once the draft has gone down there would be no possibility of taking Curry over Stafford.

Also, I’m a big fan of signing potential franchise qbs early. I liked the early signing of Matt Ryan last year and the early signing of Stafford this year. A disastrous holdout like the ones that cost JaMarcus Russel and Brady Quinn their rookie seasons is avoided and the player can focus solely on learning the playbook. Unless these kids are superhuman they must be speculating on the financial aspekt until it is taken care of.

by hythlodaeus on Apr 25, 2009 2:52 AM EDT up reply actions

Derek Anderson was the factor in causing Quinn to lose out on his rookie career, but yeah, Quinn’s holdout never helped his cause either.

I understand your perspective on this idea, but there is that giant risk of watching him either get severely injured or play really poorly. Considering that risk, I think it would be best for some teams to wait out on signing them until AFTER IMMEDIATELY picking him in the draft.

Then again, I am old-fashioned about this like I said before.

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by R_Adragna on Apr 25, 2009 12:25 PM EDT up reply actions