Matthew Stafford is the highest-paid player in NFL history. That doesn’t sound right, and the crazy thing is we all expected it to eventually happen a year ago.

Interesting prediction from @corryjoel on next player that'll beat Luck for highest paid in NFL: Matthew Stafford — Ross Tucker (@RossTuckerNFL) June 30, 2016

Even crazier than Stafford holding that title? Kirk Cousins is about nine months away from prying the “highest-paid in history” belt away from him.

Kirk. Cousins. Highest-paid player. EVER. Think about that for a second.

Before Stafford, it was Derek Carr who held the belt. So over a 12-month span, Cousins, Stafford and Carr — three quarterbacks without a playoff win between them — will have been the highest-paid player in league history at one point.

Even CRAZIER than all of that? This is a scenario that could legitimately play out over the next year…

Seriously rooting for Bortles to have a Freeman 2010 type of year and for Jags to win AFC South so he's the highest paid player ever. — Scott Kacsmar (@FO_ScottKacsmar) August 29, 2017

The NFL’s quarterback market is out of control and has been ever since Joe Flacco signed his name on a six-year, $120.6 million contract in 2013. It needs fixing. Quarterbacks have too much leverage and are taking up too much money that could be more evenly split between their teammates.

With that in mind, we set out to develop a system to stop the quarterback contract bubble from bursting. Obviously this would need to be collectively bargained between the owners and the NFLPA, so we attempted to create incentives for all sides. It’s not perfect — and would probably need to be tweaked — but it’s better than what we have now.

So without further ado, here is our four-point plan to better regulate the NFL’s quarterback market…

1. Each team can designate one quarterback (let’s call it the ‘Franchise QB Tag’) who does not count against a team’s cap, and that quarterback does not count against the cap for the duration of his deal. If the quarterback is cut or traded, the dead money counts against the cap.

We’ll use the Texans as an example. Upon signing Brock Osweiler last offseason, Houston would have tagged him as their designated franchise quarterback, so his contract would not have counted toward the team’s cap. When they traded him this past offseason, the $9 million in dead money he left behind would count against their cap, though the trade would allow the Texans to place the Franchise QB Tag on another passer if they chose to do so.

2. Set max contracts (salary, guarantees and years included), which are tiered based on certain statistical accomplishments and accolades. The contract figures are based on a percentage of the salary cap.

In order to keep quarterback contracts from continuing to grow out of control, we’ll set max contracts for quarterbacks as the NBA does for all of its players. In order to keep quarterbacks like Stafford from demanding Aaron Rodgers Money, these contracts will be tiered based on accomplishments (similar to the NBA’s super max contracts).

We’ll have three tiers…

Tier 1 is reserved for QUARTERBACKS who have…

Finished in the top-3 in MVP voting once in the last three years or…

Made an All-Pro team at least once during the last three years or…

Made three Pro Bowls in the previous five years or…

Led the league in either passing yards, touchdowns or passer rating once in the past three years

QBs qualified for Tier 1 max contracts: Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, Matt Ryan, Cam Newton, Carson Palmer, Russell Wilson, Drew Brees, Ben Roethlisberger, Andrew Luck

Teams can offer these quarterbacks a six-year deal based on 16% of the NFL’s salary cap the season they sign their deal. In 2017, they could offer their Tier 1 QB a six-year, $160.3 million contract.

Tier 2 is reserved for QUARTERBACKS who have…

Made at least one Pro Bowl in the last three years AND…

Finished in the top-10 in either passing yards, touchdowns or passer rating once in the last three years

QBs qualified for Tier 2 max contracts: Matthew Stafford, Derek Carr, Eli Manning, Dak Prescott, Alex Smith, Andy Dalton, Kirk Cousins, Marcus Mariota, Jameis Winston, Philip Rivers

Teams can offer these quarterbacks a five-year deal based on 12% of the NFL’s salary cap the season they sign their deal. In 2017, they could offer their Tier 2 QB a five-year, $100 million contract.

Tier 3 is reserved for all other quarterbacks

Teams can offer these quarterbacks a four-year deal based on 9% of the NFL’s salary cap the season they sign their deal. In 2017, they could offer their Tier 3 QB a four-year, $60 million contract.

If any quarterback wants to argue he has been placed in the wrong tier, there will be an MLB-style arbitration process to decide which tier he is placed into. Philip Rivers, for example, would have a compelling case to jump into Tier 1.

(Note: Teams aren’t locked into those contract figures. They are the max contracts the teams can offer. The Patriots could sign Tom Brady to a four-year, $100 million contract if that’s what both parties wanted.)

3. These designated contracts offer higher guarantees than quarterbacks are getting now.

Owners are benefitting from this system; they can keep their franchise quarterbacks without paying a ridiculous amount. Non-quarterbacks are happy too, as they get a bigger share of the salary cap. So how do we get quarterbacks on board? Offer them more guaranteed money. Around 60% of contracts handed out by NFL teams is guaranteed. We’ll guarantee 70% of the the franchise quarterbacks contracts. The total sums of the contracts will be smaller than they are presently but the guarantees will be higher.

4. In free agency, other teams can offer one fewer year than the quarterback’s current team can and only 65% of the contract would be guaranteed.

In order to help owners keep their quarterbacks at home, we’ll borrow from the NBA once again. If a quarterback wants to leave a team, he’ll have to leave a year of money and some guarantees on the table. Kirk Cousins can flee Washington for San Francisco, but he’ll have to give up a lot of money to do so.

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So there it is. The system isn’t perfect but it keeps mostly everybody happy, allows teams to keep their franchise quarterback while still having money to build around them and leaves more money for the players who play for a shorter time than quarterbacks typically do.

Tier 2 quarterbacks would be most hurt by the system; then again, this isn’t a caste system. There’s nothing stopping them from playing their way into Tier 1. If you want Aaron Rodgers Money, play more like Aaron Rodgers.

It’s hard to imagine the non-quarterbacks empathizing with the Tier 2 guys and their complaints about their nine-figure contracts. From a utilitarian standpoint, this is a no-brainer for the NFLPA.

Quarterbacks would still be overpaid but not outrageously so. At the very least, we wouldn’t have to live in a world where Kirk Cousins is the highest-paid player in the NFL history.