5 things you need to know for Tuesday

Good morning football fans! Here are five things from Monday that you need to know to start off your weeks:

According to Adam Schefter, the Detroit Lions and QB Matthew Stafford have agreed to a new five-year contract which will make him the highest paid quarterback in the NFL. The deal is rumored to be worth $135 million dollars over the next five years.

2016 was the best year of Stafford’s career from a grading standpoint, earning an overall grade of 85.9, which ranked eighth among quarterbacks.

Stafford improved his efficiency last season, setting a career-high in adjusted completion percentage at 76.1 percent, which ranked ninth among quarterbacks.

While passing under pressure, Stafford ranked ninth with a passer rating of 78.2, another career-best mark that also ranked higher than each of the current top four highest paid quarterbacks (Carr, Luck, Brees, Cousins). Stafford also ranked ninth in adjusted completion percentage at 66.9 percent when passing under pressure.

Stafford showed he could pick up first downs with his legs when needed last season, earning the fourth-highest run-grade (81.9) among quarterbacks on active rosters.

Arizona Cardinals insider Darren Urban has reported that inside linebacker Deone Bucannon has returned to practice. Bucannon missed the entire offseason program and training camp while he recovered from ankle surgery, and was limited in practice. He remains questionable for the team’s opening game against the Detroit Lions.

Bucannon is coming off a disappointing 2016 season, where his PFF grade of 61.8 ranked 47th of 86 qualifying linebackers. It was a significant drop off from his 2015 season, where is PFF overall grade of 82.7 ranked 14th of 90 players at the position.

Bucannon struggled against the run last year, earning a run defense grade of just 34.3, the fourth-lowest among qualifying linebackers. Against the run, Bucannon posted a tackle efficiency (the PFF metric that shows the number of tackles per miss) of 6.0, which ranked 57th of 64 linebackers with at least 55 run defense snaps.

Despite struggling against the run, he excelled in coverage, and allowed just 0.75 yards per coverage snap, which ranked sixth of 38 players with at least 280 coverage snaps. He ended the season with a coverage grade of 84.6, the eighth-highest among the league’s linebackers.

The Miami Herald’s Barry Jackson reports the Miami Dolphins told Jarvis Landry’s representation “there is no truth whatsoever” to reports they are trying to trade the receiver. Head coach Adam Gase also told Landry there is “no chance” he is traded.

Landry ran 72.7 percent of his routes out of the slot in 2016 and his 65 receptions and 856 yards led all wide receivers. He finished second in yards per route run (2.33) from the slot and recorded all four of his touchdowns on the season there as well.

Since 2014, Landry has led the league with 199 receptions from the slot. He also ranks second among all wide receivers with 48 forced missed tackles the last two seasons.

Indianapolis Colts second-year defensive back T.J. Green recently started taking reps at cornerback in practice, after logging 36 total snaps all across the defensive alignment for the Colts in the opener. His first performance at cornerback came in Week 2 of the preseason, with mixed success. He finished with an overall grade of 71.0, but had a coverage grade of 61.0 with 27 snaps coming from the left boundary cornerback spot.

However, in the Colts Week 3 preseason game against Pittsburgh, Green moved around the secondary a bit more, logging 12 snaps at left cornerback and 11 snaps at right cornerback, and registering an 81.7 overall grade and a 80.6 coverage grade, second-highest in the game against the Steelers.

Just 11 days into his position switch, the change is already paying dividends for Green and the Colts as some NFL teams actually projected Green as a cornerback rather than safety when he declared for the 2016 draft. At cornerback, he was targeted four times as the primary defender in coverage against Pittsburgh, allowing just one reception for a minor six yards and fielding a 39.6 passer rating into his coverage.

All signs point towards Green picking up the position full-time with Clayton Geathers and Malik Hooker as the team’s safety duo. If Green could combine his coverage skills and run defense prowess he showcased at Clemson in 2015 (82.9 run defense grade), the Colts could be much better off in the secondary.

Washington Redskins RB Rob Kelley provided a bright spot in an otherwise sluggish offense in the team’s third preseason game against the Cincinnati Bengals.

Kelley enjoyed a successful rookie campaign in 2016, where he handled 49 percent of the Redskins rushing attempts. He forced 39 missed tackles on 180 total attempts, and ended the season with an elusive rating (elusive rating boils down a runner's success beyond the point of being helped by his blockers) of 61.5, the fourth-highest among running backs.

However, through the first two games of the preseason, Kelley’s 12 rushing attempts went for just 11 yards, he managed to force just one missed tackle, while averaging just 1.42 yards after contact per attempt, ranking 90th of 106 qualifying running backs.

Kelley badly needed a bounce back after his first two preseason outings, and did so against the Bengals. Kelley logged 10 rushing attempts for 57 yards, forced two missed tackles, and averaged 2.40 yards after contact per attempt, the sixth-highest mark among backs with at least 10 carries in Week 3 of the preseason. He ended the game with a PFF overall grade of 72.2, the highest grade among Redskins running backs.