Over the next three weeks, Matthew Stafford will likely playing his final games as a member of the Detroit Lions, according to former NFL All-Pro Chad Brown.
The 15-year NFL veteran, turned play-by-play announcer and host on 104.3 The Fan in Denver, reported that he is hearing that the Lions are “going to move on” from Stafford this coming offseason. Brown mentioned that he’s getting this information from a source he trusts.
“The Lions are open for business, there’s no doubt about that in my mind. The ability to get Matt Stafford is out there. I haven’t spent much time looking into what it’s going to take to make that happen, but I know the Lions are going to move on.”
When pressed on the topic, Brown doubled down.
“I am absolutely certain of that (the Lions moving on from Stafford), yes. I’ve had conversations — I have birdies too. They are looking to start over. It hasn’t worked.”
The Pro Bowl quarterback is under contract through the 2022 season and a void year in 2023. If he stays with the Lions, Stafford will have a $34.9 million cap hit in 2021 and $27.9 million cap hit in 2022.
If he were to be traded, the cap hit for his new team would exclude the prorated portion of the $50 million signing bonus he received in 2017.
Stafford played well from 2011-2018 while playing under offensive coordinators Scott Linehan and Jim Bob Cooter before struggling under Darrell Bevell in the current regime.
This season, Stafford is completing nearly 64 percent of his passes and ranks 7th in the NFL in passing yards. The 32-year old gun-slinger has thrown for 22 touchdowns to only 9 interceptions.
There might be an image out there that Stafford can’t win or lead his team, but the fact of the matter is Detroit has only given Stafford a top-10 ranked scoring defense once in his career.
The Lions will be hiring a new head coach and general manager in the offseason and it’s fair to say that they would want to get rid of Stafford’s contract and get that money back for cap space as they go into a rebuild. You also have to ask the question too, would Stafford be willing to stay through a rebuild?
The Lions could head into the draft or target a quarterback in free agency if they’re ready to move on from Stafford.
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