Matthew Stafford’s 2020 dead-cap is less than reported

Trading Matthew Stafford would cost the Detroit Lions a lot of money in dead-cap, but not as much as originally reported.

Rumors that Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford could be traded have escalated quickly this past week with a report from Local-4 WDIV that trade talks have been ‘underway for a couple of weeks’.

Though Lions general manager Bob Quinn quickly refuted these reports as ‘100% false’ … we know where there’s smoke, there’s often fire. So I’ll play.

There are a couple of reasons why trading Stafford isn’t as appealing as say … just two short years ago. 1) Back-to-back back injuries have hurt his stock after iron man status. 2) His dead cap was reported by almost every outlet you can find to be a whopping $32 million.

But according to Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk, the dead-cap, if Stafford is traded, is ‘only’ $24.8 million.

"Per a league source with knowledge of the deal, the numbers posted by both contract-information websites ($8.3 million, $21.3 million, and $32 million, respectively) are not correct. Instead, the cash payout is $21.5 million, the cap number is $21.3 million, and the dead-cap money if Stafford were to be traded is $24.8 million."

It seems what everyone, including myself, didn’t catch until Florio a few days ago is when Stafford restructured his contract in 2019 that $7.2 million of his $15 million in base salary was converted into an option bonus.

That bonus is to be paid by whichever team is currently paying him. No longer making the $7.2 million option bonus dead-cap for the team that traded him. What does this mean for the Lions? Not much.

I personally don’t think the salary cap hit matters as much as others as if the Lions were to trade Stafford. I don’t think anyone is expecting a roster ready to compete for the division anyway. If anything it would help ensure another losing season with a built-in excuse for another top-five draft pick.

What does this mean for a potential trading partner? $7.2 million more dollars on the Stafford tab.

All in all, if a trade was to manifest it would take two dedicated parties. And enough interest to where $7.2 million in 2020 probably wouldn’t be a deal-breaker. But even if it is in the ever slightest, the $7.2 million in relief for the Detroit Lions does make it more feasible. Although, they knew this all along.

But what do you think? Does the revised dead-cap hit for Matthew Stafford make it more likely that he’ll be traded this offseason? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below.