Stafford has more time, money to help Lions win

ALLENPARK, MICH.» Matthew Stafford has more time, and money, to accomplish what the Detroit Lions drafted him to do for the franchise.

The Lions gave the standout quarterback a five-year extension worth $135 million, keeping him under contract through 2022. The franchise desperately hopes he can return the investment and help it have success in the playoffs that has been elusive.

Stafford’s contract surpassed what was — briefly— the richest deal in the league. Derek Carr signed a $125 million, five-year deal earlier this summer with the Oakland Raiders.

Detroit drafted Stafford No. 1 overall in 2009 and he has led the team’s transformation from league laughingstock to being relatively respectable. He guided them to the playoffs last season, for the third time in six seasons, but has been unable to stop a playoff drought that has lasted a quarter of a century.

And he hasn’t pushed the team any closer to winning an NFL title for the first time since 1957.

“When I was drafted here, we were obviously coming off a 0-16 season and in a lot of ways needed some new breath and some direction,” Stafford said Tuesday.

“And I was lucky and happy and honored to be a part of getting it from where it was then to where it is now. And hopefully that exponential of a jump can happen again, andwe can go from where we are now to where we really want to be and that’s hoisting a Lombardi Trophy.”

Detroit, though, will need more than the 29-year-old Stafford to be the best team in the league.

Lions manager Bob Quinn insisted the lucrative deal doesn’t hurt the team’s chances of surrounding Stafford with enough talent to win.

“Yeah, there’s more money to go around,” Quinn said. “And it’s my job and the scouting department’s job and our contract people’s job to make everything fit and field the most competitive people that we can.