stafford.jpg

Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford has a $22.5 million cap hit in 2016.

(Mike Mulholland | MLive.com)

Pro Football Focus makes every effort to go beyond the box score -- to objectively grade every player on every snap of every game -- but at times, it admittedly feels like their analysts simply don't like the Detroit Lions.

After projecting the Lions will have the worst record in the NFL next season, and leaving Pro Bowl defensive end Ezekiel Ansah off their list of 101 best players in the league, PFF turned its attention to Detroit quarterback Matthew Stafford this week, labeling him as one of the five most overpaid players at his position.

"If Stafford was able to maintain the momentum he gained from a solid 2013 season, then his contract makes sense, but since then, we've seen more bad out of Stafford than good," the article stated. "If he keeps up his recent inconsistency, then he deserves to be paid like an average quarterback rather than a top-10 one -- and there's a big difference between how those two kinds of QBs should be compensated."

(We're going to assume they meant Stafford's 2011 season, when he topped 5,000 yards while tossing 41 touchdowns.)

Stafford has two years remaining on his current contract, a three-year, $53 million extension he signed in 2013. While his cap hit is scheduled to average $22.3 million over the next two seasons, and his $22.5 million cap hit in 2016 is sixth among quarterbacks, the $17.7 million average salary over the duration of the extension ranks 17th among quarterbacks.

The Lions have shown unwavering support for Stafford as the organization's present and future at the quarterback spot. That extends to new general manager Bob Quinn, who as recently as April, completely rejected the idea of shopping Stafford on the trade mark.

In all likelihood, the organization will seek to negotiate another long-term extension with Stafford next offseason.

When it comes to filling up the stat sheet, few QBs have done it as well as Stafford. He holds nearly every meaningful franchise passing record, and after a rocky start to the 2015 campaign, he enters the 2016 season coming off arguably the best stretch of his career.

In the second half of last season, Stafford completed 70 percent of his passes for 2,179 yards and a staggering 19-2 touchdown-to-interception ratio.

Unfortunately for the Lions, Stafford's individual accomplishments have not translated into team success. Detroit has qualified for the postseason just twice during the former No. 1 pick's seven-year career, failing to win a single playoff contest.

-- Download the Detroit Lions MLive app for iPhone and Android

-- Follow Justin Rogers on Twitter

-- Follow MLive Sports on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram