All Lions: Where Does Matthew Stafford Rank among Best Quarterbacks in NFL Today?
Underrated or overrated? That is the question for fans and pundits alike when it comes to longtime Lions franchise passer Matthew Stafford.
It's been a topic frequently debated, seemingly ever since his first few years in the league.
He's entering his 12th NFL season in 2020, and he's coming off an impressive 2019 campaign that saw him post solid numbers across the board.
Stafford recorded the sixth-highest QBR among all passers (69.6), albeit in only eight games due to a back ailment that sidelined him from Week 10 on.
So, Stafford at full health -- which he is by all accounts -- should mean that he'll be a top 10 quarterback this upcoming season.
Gregg Rosenthal of NFL.com didn't quite see it like that when putting together his recent QB rankings.
Rosenthal looked at the talent, production, age and contract of each passer when determining his rankings.
It led Rosenthal to place Stafford outside of his top 10 -- even behind Browns third-year starter Baker Mayfield.
But with every list that ranks him outside of the top 10 best QBs in the league today, there's one that places him inside of it.
It brings us to the first article in this Friday edition of SI All Lions' look at the best articles on the Detroit franchise from around the web.
Rotoworld's Ian Hartitz, in a piece published by Yahoo Sports, ranks the top "gunslinger" QBs from 2019.
Leading his list is none other than Stafford.
As Hartitz writes,
"Overall, Stafford led all QBs in average target depth, deep-ball rate and aggressiveness (the amount of pass attempts a QB makes that are into tight windows). The Lions were 3-4-1 in Stafford's eight starts with one extremely fluky loss against the Chiefs, and one borderline robbery vs. the Packers.
Don't sleep on Detroit making some noise in the NFC North in 2020 *if* Stafford can continue to efficiently shred defenses with downfield dimes to his various (talented) weapons all over the field. I love Stafford's +6600 MVP odds."
Detroit's gunslinging thrower is part of a QB depth chart in Motown that also includes offseason acquisition Chase Daniel and undrafted second-year pro David Blough.
Conor Orr of Sports Illustrated ranked the Lions' QB room as the 18th best in the league headed into the 2020 campaign.
As Orr pens,
"This was an incredibly difficult spot to put Matt Stafford, who was having a decent 2019 before a spinal fracture ended his season. At 32, there is plenty of good football remaining for the former No. 1 overall pick. His streak of consecutive starts leading up to the 2019 injury—one of the longest for a quarterback in NFL history—proves as much. However, one has to wonder what the Lions’ infrastructure offers him in the near future to help him succeed."
Let's close out this Friday version of "All Lions" on a hugely positive note.
In his latest for the Detroit Free Press, Lions beat writer Dave Birkett writes how the organization is doing its part to assist the health care professionals that are battling COVID-19 on the front line.
It has announced that it will pay for five food trucks to serve free lunches to Henry Ford Hospital workers starting next week.
According to Birkett,
"The trucks, from Stix and Stone pizza, Delectabowl, Brass Kitchen, Big Boy and The Mean Weenie, will be brought on-site to the hospital's Detroit campus from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday."
The thoughts and prayers of everyone at this site are with the first responders, nurses and doctors all throughout Michigan and the entire country during this trying time.
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