Matthew Stafford officially signs contract extension with Lions

It's official: Matthew Stafford is now under contract with the Detroit Lions for the next five seasons. Word first got out about Stafford's three-year extension on Tuesday afternoon, and he officially signed the deal on Wednesday morning before meeting with the media.

It’s official! @Staff_9 @tomlewand #Lions pic.twitter.com/TLpdQA0px3

— Detroit Lions (@DetroitLionsNFL) July 10, 2013

Stafford, who was drafted first overall by the Lions in 2009, is now under contract through the 2017 season. He is expected to make $53 million from his new extension, which reportedly includes a $27.5 million signing bonus and has $41.5 million in guaranteed money.

Stafford was already set to make $23.5 million in base salary over the course of the next two seasons. So with the extension being added on, Stafford is scheduled to make a total of $76.5 million over the next five seasons. It's not clear just yet what his cap number will look like for the following five seasons, but the Lions will reportedly save around $7 million in cap room in 2013 and 2014 thanks to this deal.

This is the second straight offseason that the Lions handed out a big extension to one of their players. Last March, wide receiver Calvin Johnson was signed to an extension that gave him an eight-year deal worth $150.5 million. The Lions have shown that they are willing to spend big money on their top players, and chances are we will see that again with defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh either in 2014 or 2015.

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