Matthew Stafford will not be the starting quarterback for the Detroit Lions for the first time since 2008. Stafford was The Man in Detroit from the moment he was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2009 NFL draft.
Now he’s in Los Angeles, traded this offseason for Jared Goff and a flurry of draft capital. It’s going to be different not seeing No. 9 under center for the Lions.
Stafford gave the Lions 12 strong, prolific years. He holds just about every franchise passing record and accomplished much of his success in spite of a consistently weak rushing attack and defenses that ranked in the bottom third of the league. Yet he also never led the team to a division title and failed to capture a single playoff win in three postseason appearances.
