Lions notes: Matthew Stafford set to make $66 million more than Tom Brady’s career earnings

• Former Packers Director of Player Finance Andrew Brandt gave his thoughts on the Matthew Stafford contract extension. Brandt rationalizes the move from the Detroit Lions’ perspective, but also drops this very interesting nugget about Stafford:

Were he to play out this contract, he will have earned $262.5 million in the NFL by age 35, with another potential major extension ahead. For comparison purposes, Tom Brady, now 40, has earned $196 million over 17 seasons.

So by the age of 35, Stafford is set to make over $66 million more than Tom Brady has at age 40.

While that’s easy fodder to make fun of the Lions, as Brandt points out, this has more to do with the Stafford’s fortuitous timing. Upon entering the league, his rookie deal was set by old CBA standards that allowed for bloated, highly-guaranteed contracts. His subsequent extensions were set by the markets of an exponentially inflating salary cap, much different from the early days of Brady’s budding career. Still, they’re eye-opening numbers.

• It’s been awhile since we’ve taken a ride on the Kenny Golladay Hype Train. No second or third-round rookie receiver had a better preseason than Golladay, according to Pro Football Focus.

• Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press gave his game-by-game predictions for the Lions 2017 season, landing on a final record of 8-8.

• This quote from Glover Quin is extremely interesting and says a lot about what players think of current safety rules:

• The NFL announced on Wednesday that they’ve hired 21 full-time officials for the 2017 season. Thankfully, Carl Cheffers is not one of them.

• First, you forget that Matthew Stafford played football in Texas. Now this, ESPN? (h/t commenter “critical perspective”):

• This is very promising for the Lions’ rookie tight end, Michael Roberts, who was mostly known for his receiving skills in college: