As a lifetime Detroit Lions fan, born and raised in northern Michigan, this is a bittersweet article to write. Personally when I think of the Detroit lions, a few players instantly come to mind, Barry Sanders, Calvin Johnson, Herman Moore, and Matthew Stafford. Matthew Stafford has been one of the few things that lions fans could actually be proud of for the last 12 seasons, and its bittersweet that this era is coming to an end. Stafford has always been nothing less than a class act on and off the field, this man has always left everything on the field, and never made any excuses even though he played a lot of his career battling injuries and scrambling for his life because of our less than stellar offensive lines over the years. Not only was he a class act on the field but also for the city of Detroit and the state of Michigan. He and his wife Kelly were very active in the community and working with various charity’s. If nothing else Stafford always made for interesting family debates on thanksgiving day.

Over the last few seasons, conversation has started picking up as to when we were going to see the lions move on from Stafford. Stafford was always very vocal about his love for the city of Detroit and his desire to continue playing for Detroit, which honestly makes me respect him more, because its no secret fans and players alike think Detroit is a place where careers come to die. Once The back injury happened last season the conversation really started heating up and the conversation heavily shifted from do we keep Stafford to when to what can we get for him. Its not that he hasn’t been a solid QB, He’s actually had some great years and put out some crazy stat lines, but now our time window is growing shorter and father time, as well as brutal injuries are going to start catching up to The veteran QB. As unfortunate as it is, it looks like its time to trade in our old trusty beat up sports car, for a new shiny one. With all of our organization moves, its time to shift our focus to the future of our team, as well as give #9 the chance to actually go play for a Super bowl while he still has some gas in the tank. Right now makes the most sense to let Stafford walk under “new” ownership, new GM Brad Holmes, new Assistant GM Ray Agnew, and new first time head coach Dan Campbell, new assistant head coach Duce Staley, and finally new offensive coordinator Anthony Lynn and kick off the rebuild.

With #9 and the team agreeing to part ways it sparks the conversation of who do we go to now, how much trade value Stafford has left this late in his career and who our potential trade options are. With 2 years and 43 million dollars left on the QBs contract it’ll be interesting to see what transpires this off season. There are a plethora of different landing possibilities for Stafford, including teams like Indianapolis, Washington, San Francisco, Denver, or even New England, Miami, New Orleans and potentially Houston. The Lions have the 7th overall pick in the 2021 draft and depending on how they play this trade could set the lions up in a great position to start this rebuild.

The Lions have said they hope to get a first round pick return for the 2009 first round pick and for the right team it may be worth it to them, especially if they sit far enough back in the first round and have a team that has some key pieces but is only missing a QB. The Colts who seem to be the early favorite to grab Stafford are sitting back at the 21st pick, which actually doesn’t sound like a terrible price for the veteran gunslinger. Denver seems to be the second favorite but they draft all the way up at the 9 spot and that seems unlikely that they would part ways with that pick, especially with QBs like Fields, Wilson, Jones, and Lance all as draft candidates. Washington is sitting at 19, and Miami is just above them at 18. I personally think the Texans could come shopping as well if Watson does in fact request a trade. The Texans are interesting because they’ve already traded away their picks in an attempt to ignite a “win now” team, but it blew up in their face. I could definitely see the option getting proposed for Stafford and the Lions 7th overall pick for Watson straight up but it’d be interesting to see where that went.

Matthew has publicly said that he wishes to go to a team where he could make a real run at a championship. Its no surprise that this news comes out now so he can get a jump on the offseason moves to give him an edge on other QBs that will be shifting around and optimize his chances of landing on a solid team. Regardless of where the landing spot its definitely going to add to the offseason buzz this year. Hopefully the trade is handled well, all parties are left happy and this wont go down as just another Detroit Lions flop.