Raiders Insider Shares Matt Stafford’s Rumored Trade Value

The Raiders are considered by many to be the front runner to trade for Matthew Stafford, and one reported even suggested the sides have agreed on what would be an acceptable contract if the veteran quarterback is traded to Las Vegas.

The hurdle now appears to be agreeing on trade compensation with the Rams and Sports Illustrated insider Hondo Carpenter has been reporting that the Rams will likely take a lower pick for Stafford if the Raiders are willing to eat more of his salary.

Additionally, the Las Vegas Review-Journal’s Vinny Bonsignore reported on the “prevailing thought” around the league to what the Rams will be able to get in return for Stafford.

“If you’re the Rams, no doubt you have your eye on that sixth pick overall,” Bonsignore said on Raider Nation Radio’s Morning Tailgate on Thursday.

“[The Rams] are going try to drive up, especially with what is potentially going to be a little bit of a bidding war, they’re going to try to get as much as they possibly can.”

Asked if the idea of getting a first-round pick for Stafford was unreasonable, Bonsignore said it was not.

“No, I don’t think it’s a pie in the sky. I’ve talked to a number of league people to try to gauge what fair compensation would be and, resoundingly, the feedback that I got is that 37-year-old and all, [Stafford] is still is a premier quarterback, and [that] costs something, right?” Bonsignore said.

“I’ve just thrown out various scenarios to at least five people… and my proposal was this year’s second-round pick and next year’s second-round pick. I would consider that fair. Others don’t see it that way. Others see it as this year’s second round pick,” Bonsignore continued.

“We’ll see how many teams are legitimately interested. We’ll see how far that bidding war actually goes. But I would say a second round pick this year and a second round pick next year that could be a conditional first round pick if certain things are met. I was told, ‘Nope, that’s not going to get it done.’ [The Rams] would just move them to another team if that was the case. So, I was told that… what would be considered a fair and acceptable offer… would be this year’s second round pick and next year’s first round pick.”

It will be interesting to see how everything plays out, but there has probably too much made of the “bidding war” that’s going on for Stafford at the moment.

More than likely, Stafford is going to pick the team he wants to be traded to and the Rams are going to want Stafford’s salary off the books as soon as possible. According to OverTheCap, Stafford has a roster bonus due on the third day of the new league year in March.

Look for that date (March 15) to be a fairly firm deadline for the Rams to try to unload Stafford if it’s going to happen.

One other note on Bonsignore is that he has definite connections within the Rams organization from his time covering them before joining the Raiders beat.

Some of those trade valuations can probably be sourced back to the Rams, who would obviously see Stafford’s value as a first-round pick and more.

In this case, though, Stafford has the ability to say he’s only taking a trade to one team (and many believe that team would be the Raiders) and squash the Rams trade leverage.

Why would Stafford force the Raiders to give up the no. 6 overall pick when he might have the leverage to push his trade value down as low as a third-round pick?

It might not play out that way, but Bonsignore was one of the media personalities who believed the Raiders would be able to get trade compensation for Derek Carr two years ago. That was never going to happen and the outrageous trade proposals for Stafford probably aren’t going to play out, either.

x: @raidersbeat