Who's a better NFL quarterback: Matthew Stafford or Derek Carr?
Which of the 20-something gunslingers would you rather have lead your team for the next five years?
Which is most deserving of the richest contract in NFL history?
Carr signed a record five-year deal worth a reported $125 million on Thursday, and for at least the next few weeks he'll be the highest-paid player in the NFL while playing for the Oakland Raiders.
Stafford's own nine-figure extension should be done sometime in July, and it's a lead-pipe lock that he'll top Carr in just about every measure financially.
Stafford, 29, has led the Lions to three playoff appearances in the last six seasons, albeit without a postseason victory. He put up superior numbers to Carr last year in terms of passing yards and completion percentage. And most importantly, he has more negotiating leverage than Carr by virtue of his $26.4 million franchise-tag for 2018 (Carr's number would have been a couple million dollars cheaper).
Whether you think Stafford is worth $26 million a season or not, the economics of the NFL dictate he'll land a contract somewhere in that neighborhood.
There are 12 to 14 good quarterbacks in a league that places a premium on that position, and Stafford and Carr are both in that group.
To paraphrase what Bleacher Report writer Mike Tanier tweeted Wednesday, being the highest-paid quarterback in the NFL doesn't mean you're the best. In a league where demand far outpaces supply at the position, it means you're the most recently paid good one.
That's where both Stafford and Carr, 26, find themselves this off-season as they cash in on life-changing money.
Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers are the two best quarterbacks in the NFL, hands down, and if contracts were based solely on merit, they'd always top the highest-paid list.
But Stafford and Carr give their teams a legitimate chance to win every week, and neither the Lions nor Raiders would stand much of a chance without them.
Want proof? Look what happened at the end of the 2016 season.
The Lions went 9-7 with eight come-from-behind wins (many of them Stafford-ignited), but they fell apart in the final month of the season as their quarterback dealt with a bum middle finger on his throwing hand.
In Oakland, Carr had the Raiders on the verge of a first-round bye when he broke his fibula in a Week 16 win over the Indianapolis Colts. The Raiders got blown out the next week by the Denver Broncos, then didn't stand a chance in the playoffs with Connor Cook playing quarterback.
It's easy to look at any athlete's shortcomings and wonder how a team can pay him so much money, but the reality is players like Stafford and Carr, to franchises like the Lions and Raiders, are worth every penny.
Now, with money comes expectations, and it's only right those will ratchet up for both quarterbacks this fall.
The Lions haven't won a playoff game in 26 years, and fair or not, it's on Stafford to bring that drought to an end. Stafford has to be better against the best teams on the Lions' schedule — critics love to point to the Lions' 5-46 record against winning teams with Stafford under center — and he has to do more to enhance the capable cast around him.
The reality is there's not much difference between Stafford and Carr as quarterbacks, just like there won't be in their contracts.
They're both coming off very good seasons at the right time, they're both capable of taking their teams to heretofore unseen levels, and they're both about to be very rich men.
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