Getty Matthew Stafford fires a pass against Jacksonville in 2020.
The Detroit Lions are coming down to the wire ahead of decision making time before the NFL trade deadline, and one of the biggest decisions many thought they would have to make could now be off the table.
Many wondered if Matthew Stafford would be in play for a potential trade, considering the Dallas Cowboys could need a quarterback and there might be a fit in personality. Stafford, however, isn’t on the block and isn’t going to be traded ahead of the deadline according to MLive.com’s Kyle Meinke.
Recently, in a mailbag segment, Meinke was asked about the likelihood of a Stafford trade playing out and said that it’s simply not going to happen given where the team is at and what they could be expected to do the rest of the way this season.
Meinke wrote in part:
“What I do know is the Lions aren’t going to trade Matthew Stafford before the deadline. Period. It’s not happening. It’s just not compatible with where they are as an organization. This is Year 3 of an unexpected rebuild, and ownership says they expect to compete for the playoffs this season. With a seventh spot available under the new NFL rules, seven weeks of games against almost exclusively crappy teams, and nobody showing a pulse out in the NFC East, there’s no reason to think the Lions can’t join that race. But they probably need a quarterback to do it.”
Obviously, this makes sense considering the fact that the Lions are theoretically back in the race for the playoffs the rest of the season. As Meinke alludes later on in the same piece, Detroit could elect to ship Stafford out if things got very terrible or if there was a change in direction in the front office, but those are conversations for the long term and not the short term.
Matthew Stafford’s Future With Lions
Ever since Dak Prescott went down, many have wondered if Stafford could get moved, and especially to Dallas. Obviously, that’s not going to be the case whatsoever. This past offseason, rumors swirled that the Lions wanted to move on from Stafford, but the rumblings were quickly refuted by the front office and in time proved to be false. Stafford himself has also maintained that he wants to stick with the Lions well into his future and win for the franchise, something his wife and family have echoed. Though they put their house on the market earlier this offseason, the reasoning had nothing to do with Stafford wanting out but merely wanting a change in lodging.
As Meinke points out in the piece, expect the 2021 offseason and whatever changes it might bring front office and coaching wise to be a key one for Stafford in Detroit. That could be the time to pay attention to his future.
For right now, though, Stafford remains as motivated as ever to win for the Lions and remain with the team.
Lions 2020 Trade Deadline Preview
The questions have been swirling about what path the Lions will take at this year’s trade deadline. Will they be buyers or sellers? Could they be both? At this point, it’s hard to say what path they will take considering their record. While a move of the magnitude of Stafford now seems very unlikely to happen, the Lions could decide to sell off other veteran players from the roster as they have done during the team’s past 2 trade deadlines. In those years, the Lions moved on from names like wide receiver Golden Tate and safety Quandre Diggs. Detroit also has made modest additions under Bob Quinn, dealing for Damon Harrison in 2018, who did help the team’s defense down the stretch.
One player who could be on the move is linebacker Jarrad Davis.
As for Detroit’s approach, it will likely boil down to record and performance in 2020 the next few weeks. If the Lions make use of an advantageous schedule in the second half, they could get back in the playoff hunt and become buyers for key positions on the defense. If their season trends in the wrong direction, they could also become bigger sellers. All of that will be sorted out soon.
At this point, the only thing that seems completely known is Stafford remains very unlikely to be changing zip codes.