The Detroit Lions figure to have one of the better quarterbacks in the league when the 2020 season gets going in Matthew Stafford, and he figures to be able to do some major damage on the field when all is said and done next season.
Detroit should have a solid combination in terms of pass catching with Stafford and Kenny Golladay, as the duo managed to crack Gil Brandt’s list of the top quarterback-wideout duos in the league at NFL.com. Stafford and Golladay placed at No. 9 on the list, cracking the top 10.
As a result of this, Brandt says he thinks Stafford could be a leader for the 2020 Comeback Player of the Year, an award given to a player who excels the next season off of injury.
Brandt wrote:
“Stafford is my leader in the clubhouse in the 2020 Comeback Player of the Year race after a back injury cost him half the 2019 season — he was on pace to near his career highs in passing yards (5,038) and passing touchdowns (41). This is good news for Golladay — who led the league with 11 receiving TDs last season — entering the final year of his rookie contract.”
The Lions need to sign Golladay for the future, and if they can keep him, it’s safe to say this duo will continue to roll along. It certainly wouldn’t be a stretch to see Stafford in contention for such an award given what he could be expected to do on the field.
Matthew Stafford Called Underrated MVP Candidate
While Stafford might be a leader for one award, some early odds have Stafford as quite a long shot to take home the league MVP award in 2020 but according to some, Stafford could be a great value buy as a guy who could be a dark horse to take home the award.
Recently, Pro Football Focus presented a take of the most overrated and underrated candidates for the award. Stafford falls into the underrated category.
MVP odds: Don’t count out Matthew Stafford
“For me it’s Matthew Stafford at 60-1. He was having a pretty good season last year when he left. He’s to me the best best value,” the analyst says.
Indeed, Stafford was on his way to perhaps being an MVP candidate when his back injury struck. Without Stafford, the Detroit season fell off a cliff. Obviously, that only proves how valuable the quarterback is to his team. Stafford has willed the Lions to the playoffs before and if he has a good season, the team could be in great shape for 2020.
Matthew Stafford Named Potential MVP by ESPN
That back injury ended up costing Stafford the rest of the 2019 season, but now that he has presumably healed up, the sky could be the limit for the quarterback during the 2020 season. In fact, some already see Stafford as being in the mix for a major award for his play during next season.
ESPN recently put together an Insider piece predicting some outcomes for the 2020 season. When it came to league MVP, there were scant votes for Stafford, but one insider was bold enough to say he thinks the Detroit quarterback could be the league MVP.
In a piece by MLive.com’s Benjamin Raven, the thoughts of ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler from the piece are presented. Here’s a look at what was written by Raven that Fowler shared in the piece:
“The Lions quarterback was playing some of the best ball of his career before going down with fractured bones in his back, though, and his level of play was reason enough for one ESPN analyst to pencil him in as the 2020 NFL MVP.
“Mahomes is still the game’s best player, but Stafford was playing really good football before his midseason back issues,” ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler writes (ESPN Insider). “If he leads Detroit to contention, which isn’t so farfetched considering the talent around him, he’ll be in the MVP mix because he puts up numbers and the NFC North is as open as Kenny Golladay.”
The Lions were arguably getting MVP level play out of Stafford before he got hurt, and the numbers proved that he was acclimating just fine to Darrell Bevell’s new offense in Detroit. Last season, Stafford was cruising along to the tune of 19 touchdowns, 5 interceptions and 2,499 yards. Clearly, he was the most valuable player for the Lions considering what happened to the team when he went down.
To become league MVP, the Lions will have to have an elite season on the field in terms of winning and also get great stats from Stafford. It might seem like a tall order, but it’s always possible if the Lions can finally play up to their potential.
Golladay might be a big reason why, and Stafford could be a player that is one of the truthfully great comeback stories as a result.
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Analyst Predicts Major Matthew Stafford Comeback in 2020