NFL Roundup: Lions, Stafford near deal on extension
Quarterback Matthew Stafford is close to a three-year contract extension worth $53 million that will keep him with the Detroit Lions through the 2017 season.
The deal, according to multiple reports, could be finalized Tuesday and is worth approximately $76.5 million over the next five seasons -- including the remaining two years on his rookie contract. Of that total, $43 million is guaranteed.
Stafford was scheduled to count $20.8 million against the salary cap in 2013, but the bonus money should bring immediate relief the Lions can use to shift their attention to a negotiations ongoing with defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh on a long-term deal. Stafford, 25, is one of four quarterbacks who've amassed 5,000 passing yards in a season (Dan Marino, Drew Brees, Tom Brady).
---The Jacksonville Jaguars signed 2013 fifth-round pick Denard Robinson to a deal, making the former Michigan quarterback the sixth of eight players drafted to receive a contract.
All players under contract are scheduled to report to training camp July 25.
Robinson played in 49 games at Michigan, and finished his career with the most rushing yards by a quarterback in NCAA history with 4,495. He's the fourth player in NCAA history to throw for 2,000-plus yards and rush for 1,000-plus yards in a season, and he did in 2010 and 2011.
---Left tackle Ryan Clady and the Denver Broncos are progressing in their race against the NFL clock to reach a long-term contract extension.
Clady, a three-time Pro Bowl blocker and the blindside protector for Peyton Manning in Denver, wants a new contract, but declined a deal offering $10 million per season. A free agent entering the offseason, the Broncos used the franchise tag to retain Clady when contract talks halted. He'll earn $9.8 million in 2013 if the two sides can't strike a deal before the NFL-imposed July 15 deadline.
Clady would be in elite territory alongside Cleveland Browns All-Pro Joe Thomas as the league's highest-paid left tackles if he completes a deal that would reportedly be worth $11.25 million per season for five years.
---A group of Seattle Seahawks fans is trying to make CenturyLink Field the loudest stadium on Earth.
Volume 12, which isn't officially associated with the Seahawks, is organizing an effort to break the Guinness World Record for "loudest crowd roar at a sports stadium" during the Sept. 15 home opener against the San Franscisco 49ers. Guinness has approved the group's attempt to set the new world record, Volume 12 said on their Facebook page.
The current Guinness record for is 131.76 decibels, which occurred during a soccer match at the Ali Sami Yen Sport Complex Turk Telekom Arena on March 18, 2011, in Istanbul, Turkey.
---On Monday, New England Patriots owner Bob Kraft referred to a letter sent before the 2010 draft by then University of Florida tight end Aaron Hernandez. Less than two weeks after receiving the letter, the Patriots selected Hernandez in the fourth round of the NFL draft.
Hernandez is currently under arrest and being held without bail in Massachusetts in connection with the June 17 murder of semi-pro football player Odin Lloyd. He is also being investigated for a possible connection to a 2012 double homicide in Boston. Hernandez, who received a $39.8 million, five-year contract extension last August, was cut by the Patriots within 90 minutes of his arrest and before he was arraigned.
In his first public statement since the homicide, Kraft said Monday that if Hernandez is convicted, "I've been duped and our whole organization has been duped."
