100% yes
I am stoked about Alim as well. I think he has really high potential.
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“NFL insiders” were part of the evaluation process in some of the ratings. I know you want to pretend that Stafford was always regarded as a top 10 QB to validate how you felt about him. But that simply wasn’t the case.
There were definitely some years he struggled, no doubt. I am not a hell bent Stafford slappy. I think he was a good QB for us, but never elite (he had moments, but lacked that consistency).
If you followed the Lions closely though through that time frame, coaches, players, and media that were really tied in to the NFL circle always had a much higher opinion of Stafford. Aaron Rodgers has gone out of his way on several occasions to mention how much respect he has for Stafford and how undervalued he is.
Not saying he was a top 5 guy, but for the majority of his time in Detroit, after his first two injury riddled seasons, he was a top 10 QB.
Stafford did not play all world with the Rams this year. In fact he had a stretch towards the end of the regular season were he was playing pretty subpar. I would say he had a couple seasons in Detroit where he was as good or better considering the team that surrounded him. At the end of the day, there will not be a single ranking you find next year where Stafford isn’t top 10. Do you think he all of a sudden became a top 10 QB or does it have something to do with the TEAM success he had?
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Since fairly early on in his career, I’ve viewed him as approximately #7. Some flux, but if I had to put a number on it → He’s 7.
Franchise QB for sure…Elite at times. Definitely good for a few extra wins/year over a game manager (Cousins-type).
Stafford has always reminded me of Favre. Both gunslingers at heart, both make incredible throws into small windows at times that make you say “holy shit”, but other times will force throws that lead to INT’s. It’s no surprise they are #1 and #2 all time for interceptions returned for touchdowns due to the style of football they play. Both are money with the game on the line in big moments. And they both won a super bowl and that’s really all that matters. Favre is in the hall of fame, and I’m sure Stafford will be too some day.
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Yes → to all of this. I’m with ya. Favre is the one that is closest to Matt in skillset, wiring, leadership, all of it. John Madden would have loved watching Matt win his SBs.
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Speaking of Madden… Check out how well he makes popcorn!!!
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LOL
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I think Calvin was truly a “generational player”. Better than Jerry Rice? Right there, for sure.
So, yeah. You’re not likely to get many guys like that.
We have drafted decently. We have not retained those picks, for a multitude of reasons.
Look at the list of players we drafted, that signed elsewhere for their second contract.
Suh, Hill, Slay, Galloday…just to name a few.
Throw in a few wasted picks like Best and Titus Young.
Enter Quintricia. That’s what happens when you let the NFL, “help”. Systematic destruction from within.
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We have drafted “decent” but the number of players we have signed to “real” 2nd contracts is extremely small. There is Stafford and Calvin and after that it falls off a cliff over the last 20 years. We have had players worthy of a 2nd contract, we simply haven’t signed them. Letting Glasgow walk and signing Big V is the perfect example of how this fanchise has operated. We value free agents more than our own players…even though we have a team that plays in a city where we need to do the opposite “for the culture.”
If you had asked me in 2012 where I had Stafford, it would have been somewhere around 20, maybe a little lower. I haven’t changed my mind since then. With the success he has had and will likely continue to have with the Rams, much of his past performance will get blamed on the Lions. But that is bunk. He wasn’t very good. Stafford had slightly better numbers in 2019 then he had with the Rams last year. It’s just that his year was cut short by injury. The Rams looked at what Stafford was at the time of the trade and not at what he was in 2012 and that was smart. But blaming the Lions for all Stafford failures, totally lame…
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I blame the Lions for a lot.
I blame Stafford for being excessively handsome.
Not until we landed Fox did he have someone to chill with and could feel “normal”.
I blame the Lions for a lot too. One playoff win since 1957… that doesn’t even seem possible. I can’t imagine anyone ever being more pathetic.
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In 2011 Stafford threw for 5k and 41 tds. One of the top seasons by a QB in the history of the NFL. If you put him at 20th in the league within a year… that is some harsh bias.
Which is a bias that most experts had for nearly a decade after that.
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The correct answer is that he hasn’t been drafted yet.
That sure was a fun season, Jim Shorts had the young Lions rolling until we ran into the Saints in the playoffs. That game still hurts. They scored about 75 points if my memory is right.
2011 was peak Megatron. It was nowhere near peak Stafford. Peak Stafford for the Lions occurred around 2019.
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