Matthew Stafford‘s underwhelming 2018 season has led some to wonder whether he’ll be sticking in Detroit long-term. Well, both Stafford and Lions head coach Matt Patricia have made it clear that the former top-overall pick is in it for the long haul.
“I think there’s something special about a guy getting a chance to play his entire career in one place,” Stafford told ESPN’s Michael Rothstein. “Not many guys get to do that these days. I would love to be one of those guys.”
Patricia seemed to echo that logic, stating that Stafford will be back under center come the start of the 2019 season.
“We’re in a situation where Matt Stafford‘s our quarterback,” the head coach said (via Michael David Smith of ProFootballTalk.com). “That’s what it is. I think the world of the guy.”
Of course, the pairing has more to do with money than sentiment. Prior to the 2017 season, Stafford inked a lucrative five-year, $135MM contract that includes $92MM in guaranteed money (the deal kicked in at the beginning of this season). His base salary is fully guaranteed in 2019, and his salary cap hit is at $29.5MM. The team also doesn’t have an easy out via trade; the Lions would face a $30MM cap hit if they dealt Stafford. In other words, it’s in the organization’s best financial interest to give Stafford at least another season at the helm.
Still, despite the monetary implications, that hasn’t stopped some pundits from questioning if the Lions could start hunting for a new signal-caller. Last month, Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com wondered if the “culture change” in Detroit would eventually lead to the Lions seeking a new quarterback. As our own Andrew Ortenberg pointed out, it’s much more likely that the teams eyes a coaching change, potentially at offensive coordinator.
Stafford, 30, is on track to finish with his first season with fewer than 4,000 passing yards since 2011. In 15 games this season, Stafford has completed 66.3-percent of his passes for 3,511 yards, 19 touchdowns, and 11 interceptions.
When you hear all the guaranteed money still owed not to mention how much they would have to pay if traded you see why he will be the quarterback next season. Matthew is still an excellent quarterback he is just now in the wrong system. This system that Matt Patricia has implemented does not favor Stafford at all.
I’m sure they are starting to think about moving on from Staff, will just have to be after the 2019 or 2020 season because of his contract.
No they arent
The “Cap Hit” is Organizational talk for “we are trapped” however, if they feel they win 5 games with him and 3 games without him, then trade him to the Broncos or Giants, take their QB and take the cap hit. Its one year thats’s going to be crap with or without him. 2020 has a deep QB class so trade him, take the hit, take their QB back and draft defense in 2019. Use the trade to acquire 2020 picks NOT 2019 picks. CLEAN SLATE!
Excellent? Not at all there’s only a handful of excellent QBs, Stafford is the 13/14th best QB imo.
Stafford has had 3 head coaches and several offensive coordinators in his career. The one constant during those 10 years has been his mediocrity. I don’t understand why it’s so hard for people to accept that he’s just not a good QB
Stafford isn’t going anywhere
For the most part, I think Stafford gets the blame that the OC should be getting JBC is terrible and you can tell just watching a game. Plus, Stafford has been forced to throw short passes all season. This guy has arguably the strongest arm in the NFL with deep weapons like Marvin Jones and Kenny Golladay and he is designated to short throws. It’s just dumb.