Detroit Lions: 5 teams that need to trade for Matthew Stafford
By Bob Heyrman
Denver Broncos
Don’t you get the feeling the always aggressive John Elway would love to have a talent such as Matthew Stafford under center in a Denver Broncos jersey? Elway doesn’t have the final say anymore but remains a prominent voice in the front office aiding the newly hired George Paton. Paton had actually been on the Detroit Lions’ radar to fill their vacant GM position. Paton signed in Denver, and then nearly immediately after Detroit hired Brad Holmes.
Detroit mentioned they’d narrowed their GM search to two candidates before hiring Holmes, and the timing of both additions suggests Paton had been indeed the ‘second’ candidate.
During his time as the GM, Elway struggled to find a quarterback since the legendary signal-caller in Peyton Manning retired. It’s been a revolving door at the position, starting with Brock Osweiler, Trevor Siemian, Paxton Lynch, Case Keenum, Joe Flacco, and Drew Lock.
Of the starting quarterbacks, since Manning retired, Lock seems like he has the most potential of the group, but that is not saying much after throwing 15 interceptions to just 16 touchdowns in 2020, completing just 57.3% of his passing attempts en route to winning a mere four of his 13 starts.
Even if the Broncos do not re-sign Stafford, he’s under contract for the next two seasons. Having the youngster in Lock sit behind Stafford for two years wouldn’t be the worst thing. Denver maintains a reliable defense and could be just a quarterback away from returning to relevancy with the plethora of playmaking pass-catchers littered throughout their roster.
Stafford may have fun targeting the likes of Jerry Jeudy, Tim Patrick, K.J. Hamler, and Noah Fant. Not to mention a very nice tandem of running backs in Phillip Lindsay and Melvin Gordon.
The Broncos own the 9th pick in the 2021 NFL Draft. If a deal were to get done, the Detroit Lions could potentially pair picks seven and nine to move up into the top three and draft their future quarterback.