30 Mind-Blowing Facts Every Fan Should Know About Matthew Stafford

26 January 2019, 2:39 pm EST By Ruby Karnick

Matthew Stafford, who has held and still holds a number of NFL records, including the highest-paid player in NFL history for a period of time, is quarterback for the Detroit Lions of the National Football League (NFL). Here are some very interesting facts about the American football player:

He was born John Matthew Stafford, on February 07, 1988, in Tampa, Florida to John and Margaret Stafford. He is the eldest of five siblings and attended Highland Park High School.
Even before he started playing at collegiate level, he was predicted by the American football analyst, Mel Kiper, Jr. that he would be the first pick in the NFL Draft, while on ESPN Radio in September 2006.
Stafford is married to Kelly Hall, the cheerleader and sister of former NFL player Chad Hall. After graduation they dated for few years before they got married on April 04, 2015.
On March 31, 2017, they were blessed with identical twin girls named Sawyer and Chandler and on August 16, 2018, they welcomed their third daughter, Hunter Hope.
During his senior year at Highland Park High School, he compiled over 4000 passing yards, 38 touchdowns and only six interceptions. He won numerous accolades including ‘2005 E.A Sports National Player of the Year.’
In 2005, he helped his team win the ‘University Interscholastic League,’ 4A Division 1 State Championship with perfect 15-0 record. It was school’s first title in nearly 50 years.
Stafford was named to the ‘Parade All-American Team’ and the ‘USA Today’ Pre-Season Super 25 in 2005.’ He was also awarded the ‘Most Valuable Player’ and ‘Best Arm’ award at the 2005 E.A Sport Elite 11 Quarterback Camp.
He enrolled in his father’s alma mater, the University of Georgia and became the first freshman quarterback to start for the Bulldogs since 1998.
In the sophomore year he marked his presence by averaging 194.1 passing yard per game with 19 touchdowns and a couple of rushing touchdowns. He helped the Bulldogs to their best performance since 2002 with an 11-02 record.
In the final year of his college, Stafford passed for 3,459 yards with 25 passing touchdowns, a single season record apart from setting a record of total offense with 3,499 yards.He forgoes his senior season and entered the 2009 NFL Draft.

He was first overall pick in the 2009 NFL Draft and signed up with Detroit Lions, a six year deal worth $ 72 million along with $ 41.7 million guarantee money.
The Lions made him a permanent starting quarterback for the season and the first rookie to start the season since 1968. He completed 16 of 37 passes for 205 yards with 3 interceptions.
On November 22, 2009, Stafford helped Detroit Lions register its second win of the season against Cleveland Browns. In a 38-37 score line win, he registered 422 passing yards, a record for a rookie then, apart from five touchdowns to be named ‘Pepsi Rookie of the Week,’ and ‘NFC Offensive Player of the Week.’
On September 12, 2010, Stafford got hit on the side of his shoulder and suffered Grade 2 right shoulder separations, which cost him five games. He returned on October 31 against Redskins.
He was on the injury list again in the season, when he re-injured his right shouldered in a game against New York Jets on November 07. He suffered Grade 3 separation when he was shoved by Shaun Ellis and Eric Smith, resulting in a surgery to repair his A C joint and a clavicle shaving.
When Lions registered an another comeback win on November 20, against Panthers, Stafford became the first quarterback since 1950, to win four games in a season after trailing by at least 13 points.
He ended the season with 63.5 percent completion for 5038 yards, 41 touchdowns and 16 interceptions to be named ‘2011 Pro Football Weekly Comeback Player of the Year,’ ‘AP Comeback Player of the Year,’ and ‘NFL Alumni Quarterback of the Year.’
On December 30, 2012, with his seventh throw against the Chicago Bears, Stafford passed Drew Bledsoe’s single season record for pass attempts set in 1994. He became the first player in NFL history to throw 700 passes in a single season with his 727 attempts.
On July 2019, he extended his contract with the Lions for three years, on $ 53 million deal and was agreed for $ 41.5 million guarantee money through 2017.
When he accumulated 14,069 yards in 49 games, surpassing Kurt Warner, for the best 50-game start to a career, he said ‘I have no idea about that, or that it was coming. It’s something that I’ll probably look back on when I am done and realize it was something pretty special.’

On January 19, 2015, he was selected to his first ‘2015 Pro Bowl’ replacing injured Peyton Manning, of Broncos. He finished the game with 316 passing yards, 2 touchdowns and one interception to be named Pro Bowl Offensive MVP.
Stafford reached yet another milestone on December 13, 2015, when he eclipsed 25,000 passing yards in 90 career games, two fewer than any quarterback before him.
Though Lion’s had a lack luster performance in 2015 season, Stafford completed a rare 60 percent or more passes in all 16 games of the season, for yet another first in NFL history. He had low of 60.38 and high of 80 % in the season.
In a game against Chicago Bears, on December 11, 2016, after conceding the lead in the fourth quarter, Stafford responded with seven yard touchdown to break the Peyton Manning’s NFL record of most fourth quarter comebacks in a single season with eight.
On August 28, 2017, Stafford became the highest paid player in NFL history, when he signed a five-year contract extension worth $ 135 million with $ 92 million guaranteed.
He ended the 2017 season with 4,446 passing yards, 29 touchdowns and 10 interceptions, to be voted #31 on the list of ‘Top 100 NFL Player of 2018.’ It is his seventh consecutive season with over 4000 passing yards.
In the game against Green Bay Packers, on December 31, 2017, he completed his 3,000 career completion in his 125 career game to be recorded as the fastest player to reach the milestone in NFL history.
Stafford has weekly segment on Monday on ‘The Mitch Albom Show’ with Mitch Albom on Detroit radio station WJR.
At the end of 2018 season, he quashed any rumor of transfer with a statement ‘I think there’s something special about a guy getting a chance to play his entire career in one place, not many guys get to do these days.’
Stafford net worth is estimated to be $ 60 million. In October 2015 has donated $ 1 million to help renovate a Detroit Football Field for children through his ‘Score 7 Charitable’ foundation and the filed was named after him.