Excerpt:
But it’s the win-in-Detroit-or-go-somewhere-else part of Orlovsky’s prediction that really stands out.
Stafford has been the subject of trade speculation before, including this past offseason when the Lions had the No. 3 pick in the draft but never seriously considered dealing him and taking a young quarterback.
If he plays well again this year and the Lions win, a) that would, in theory, bolster his Hall of Fame candidacy, and b) put him reasonably in line for another contract extension relatively soon. Stafford’s current contract expires after the 2022 season and by next year his current deal will be below market value.
If he doesn’t play well, or plays well and the Lions struggle, the future becomes a little more murky. Orlovsky said he could see either scenario happening: a contending team trying to trade for Stafford (whose cap hit would be $19 million in the case of a trade) or the Lions, perhaps with a new regime, moving on.
“I think in both cases you could justify it,” Orlovsky said. "I’ve said this publicly and I’ve said it to Matthew, listen, if they don’t win, it’s probably the right decision. And they didn’t not win because of him, but you can totally sit there and go, ‘All right, we tried, it didn’t happen, let’s totally reboot.’ "
Orlovsky spent some time with Stafford earlier this summer, and while he said Stafford never has voiced that theory to him, he’s also smart enough to know how the NFL works.
"He’s just focused on like, ‘Listen, I think we got a good team. I was playing really, really good last year. I feel good, healthy. Like, I think I’ve got plenty of years of really good football left in me,’ " Orlovsky said. “Listen, everyone knows he’s smart, so he’s aware. He knows what the reality of the NFL is.”
The reality is, Stafford was playing great football last year, and the Lions still were 3-4-1 when he went down. If he finds team success, not just this fall but more often than not in the second half of his career, he absolutely will be in the discussion for Canton. And if he doesn’t, well, he might finish his career outside of Detroit, with the chance to be looked at in a whole new light.
"I even (said) this to his face, I said, ‘Dude, sometimes people caveat with, do you think he’l play well?’ " Orlovsky said. “And I’m like, ‘When did he not play well?’ And to his credit, he thought he did not play well two years ago, so I kind of differed on that a little bit, but he’s going to play well. Will he be MVP-level football (this year)? I would say more likely than not likely.”
