Why Matt Flynn Made $50 Million Dollars in Week 17

Games like the one between the Detroit Lions and Green Bay Packers on Sunday are few and far between in NFL circles.

While both teams are headed to the playoffs, the game gave us a preview of how explosive each team can be and showed us how great the passing attack of the Lions and Packers can be. But while Matthew Stafford was throwing the ball all over Lambeau Field on Sunday afternoon, chipping in 520 yards and five touchdowns, the man opposing him has rarely been able to display his skills on a national stage and, in doing so, may have hit the jackpot heading into the 2012 football season.

When Packers backup quarterback Matt Flynn threw for 480 yards and six scores, it may have led to questions like "Who is this kid?" and "Is he a product of the system?" But it also may have led to the biggest question of all: "How much could this kid get paid next season?"

Flynn proved, like other Green Bay Packers backup passers, that he can throw a football and, like former reserves Mark Brunell, Matt Hasselbeck, Kurt Warner and even Aaron Rodgers, a big payday is in his future.

While the state of the starting quarterbacks in the NFL is a confusing list of the "haves" and "have nots," it is Green Bay that always seems to have. And with the need for quality starters, the price just went up on Flynn's value.

Flynn has been sitting on the Green Bay bench since 2008 when he was drafted in the seventh round out of LSU. He has shown his ability in preseason and in mop-up duty. He will be an unrestricted free agent in 2012.

The reason why he will be courted and will make money is simple—the general managers of 31 NFL teams got to see him play in a game against a contender, look like the second coming of Dan Marino and, most of all, his team won!

Other quarterbacks have done the same thing, looked like millions and cashed in. And they may not have had the same skill set as Flynn.

In 1998, the Buffalo Bills, in a parallel, traded the ninth pick in the NFL draft to the Jacksonville Jaguars for a quarterback named Rob Johnson. Johnson filled in for an injured Mark Brunell and played well enough to garner a starting slot with the NFL team. Johnson's career was anything but a highlight, but it showed that teams are willing to pay top dollar for "potential."

Flynn shows that "potential" and whether it is New York, Miami, Seattle or any other place that may need a good passer, he will cash in.

All Flynn did on Sunday was showcase his talents and make the best of a situation. The game just happened to make him a star.