Following his first year with the Los Angeles Rams in 2021, quarterback Matthew Stafford signed a contract extension with the team that keeps him through 2026. That contract was a four-year extension worth up to $160M or an average per year of $40M per season.
At the time, the contract made Stafford one of the highest-paid quarterbacks in terms of total contract value behind only Patrick Mahomes, Aaron Rodgers, Josh Allen and DeShaun Watson. The average per year (APY) was behind only those four quarterbacks as well.
For a quarterback heading into his age 34 season and had just one year of production in the Rams offense, that level of extension seemed like a lot.