Detroit Lions: Ranking the Starting Quarterbacks of the NFC North
By Bob Heyrman
It’s no secret; the NFL is a quarterback-driven league. The league is often changing rules, adapting calls to benefit the leagues’ money makers–the quarterbacks. The Detroit Lions need Matt Stafford to somehow elevate his game in year eleven.
It’s time for Matthew Stafford to re-enter and produce statistically back into the top third of league at his position. When the Detroit Lions quarterback was throwing for 5000 yards, he had the great Calvin Johnson making ludicrous plays with defenders draped all over him. Calvin was open even when he was double covered.
Since then Stafford hasn’t had an actual number one wide-out. Golden Tate was an excellent player in Detroit, but he’s not a guy who can take the top off of a defense. He’s not going to go up and make a play over defenders on a 50/50 ball. He was a nice complementary number two receiver that Stafford had to use as if he was the number one.
Since Calvin retired, the Lions have primarily used Marvin Jones & Golden Tate (until this year) as the one-two punch at wide receiver. Anquan Boldin was at the end of his career and became a red zone threat as the teams’ number three pass-catching option. He was definitely not the same player he once was before his Detroit Lions days. That being said he did help out with 8 touchdowns in 2016, the year after Johnson retired.
It’s a shame the Detroit Lions didn’t have this offensive group in place with Calvin Johnson still around. He’d be nearing the end of his career, but one can assume he’d always remain a big-play threat. Johnson, Galloday, Jones, Hockenson, Amendola with Kerryon Johnson in the backfield would be lethal.
Most of the quarterbacks in the NFC North have plenty of options to throw the football too. The most successful teams have more than one or two receiving threats. If you surround your quarterback with playmakers, good things will happen, but in the NFL you need the quarterback to elevate the players around him, in turn, steal a game or two now and then.
Let’s rank the starting quarterbacks in the NFC North;