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Earlier this offseason, Jason Hurley took a look at what it might take to get Colin Kaepernick inked to a contract extension next year. Under the terms of the CBA negotiated heading into Kap's rookie year, the 49ers are required to wait until after the completion of his third year before signing him to a new deal. That is still a full season away, which means the parameters of such a deal will be in constant flux.
We've been keeping an eye on some of these contracts, including an earlier look at Tom Brady's extension, followed by Joe Flacco's mega-deal. Although no two contracts are alike (minus league minimum deals), these various contracts give us a little more context as we consider Colin Kaepernick's monster deal that is eventually coming.
And now, we have another contract to consider. The Detroit Lions agreed to terms with Matthew Stafford on a three-year contract extension. The new deal is added on to his current contract, getting him $53 million in new money and keeping him under contract through 2017.
This deal is as much about clearing out some cap space, as it is for keeping Stafford around:
Stafford's '13 cap number should drop to $17.82M from $20.82M with a $27.5M signing bonus & a $4M '13 base salary.
— Joel Corry (@corryjoel) July 9, 2013
This has me wondering about some possibilities for Kaepernick's next contract. Stafford's new contract is his second deal with the Lions, but more importantly, he'll only be 29 when the season wraps up. That means if he remains healthy, he could very well be in line for another sizable contract.
Colin Kaepernick is actually older than Stafford. Kap was born November 3, 1987, and Stafford was born February 7, 1988. Kap will be 26 midway through this season. He's still incredibly young, but his next contract length will be an interesting part of the negotiation. Of course, given how frequently contracts are renegotiated, does it matter how long the deal is? He could sign a five- or six-year deal, and renegotiations along the way could very well lead to it being several years longer.
Stafford's deal will potentially influence a Kaepernick deal, but it's going to be on the bottom end of influencers, at best. Tony Romo and Joe Flacco signed their big "nine-figure" contracts, and we still have to wait for Matt Ryan's new contract. Kaepernick could decide on a shorter three- or four-year deal, but I'd imagine we'd be looking at something closer to a mega-contract.