The Lions desire to trade quarterback Matthew Stafford. The clock is ticking on their efforts to work out a deal.
The league year initiates on March 17. On the off chance that Stafford stays on the program as of March 21, the Lions owe Stafford a $10 million roster bonus.
Stafford without a doubt won’t consent to defer that payment to encourage a trade. In the event that the Lions don’t have a reasonable proposal for Stafford by the launch of the new league year, the Lions may need to take all that they can will try not to owe him $10 million.
Detroit’s dilemma with regards to amplifying Stafford’s trade value comes from the way that it has clarified its eagerness to trade him. A few groups may decide to be coy, hopeful that Detroit’s expectations will soften to the point that Stafford can be caught for significantly not exactly the Lions desire to get for him.
The way that lone 33% of the league has called the Lions about Stafford despite the fact that it’s currently realized that the Lions want to trade Stafford supports the perception/reality that groups are standing by to get included, with expectations of making the Lions think they won’t get what they want before March 21, and that they just may need to take what they can get.
As one league source clarified it on Thursday, groups continually call different groups about a wide variety of players, even the individuals who aren’t under agreement. Definitely in excess of 10 teams ought to have called the Lions about Stafford at this point; it’s completely conceivable that groups will slow play the circumstance with an end goal to get the Lions to jump on considerably less than they’d in any case have the option to get, if different groups thought there was an opportunity the Lions would keep him.
All things considered, it doesn’t take numerous groups to start an auction for Stafford’s agreement. On the off chance that lone two groups become expectation on landing Stafford, they can offer the cost to a level with which the Lions will be satisfied.
In any case, when the window opens for officially conducting trades, the Lions don’t have a lot of time to complete it before the Lions owe Stafford another $10 million.