The Detroit Lions went from being near a deal with Georgia QB Matt Stafford to being in a done deal (and if he didn’t sign, then the Lions had a back up plan as Aaron Curry already agreed to the terms of Detroit’s offer to be their sloppy seconds). So with the first pick of the 2009 NFL Draft, the Detroit Lions have selected QB Matt Stafford of the University of Georgia.
The draft pick will cost the Lions a few pretty pennies, though. Stafford inked a six-year deal worth $41.7 million guaranteed, and could be worth as much as $78 million with incentives. This is a league record contract and he hasn’t even played a down of team scrimmages, let alone a snap in an NFL game. In case you’re not sure how big this contract really is, Tony Romo signed a six-year deal worth only $30 million guaranteed just a year ago.
A lot of grumblings have already been expressed by Lions fans. Polls on the Detroit Lions website, amongst others, showed that the Lions fans wanted LB Aaron Curry or OL Jason Smith as the first pick, for significantly less money, rather than wasting the bank on Stafford.
None of that matters now. Calling for Mayhew’s head on a mantle or comparing Stafford to Joey Harrington is just downright stupid (and insulting). Yeah, it might be the same argument used to question why the Lions gave him so much money, but the guy hasn’t played a down yet. Let it play out for crying out loud. If the guy can land that kind of girl and party hard as it seems he does (above), I’m going to fully support him in all that that he does. I’m officially on the Matt Stafford train… er probably not the right phrase at this time, so let’s just say I’m officially a Matt Stafford fan. Okay, that was better.
I’m excited about the pick. The Lions are dishing out hundred dollar bills–a lot of them–at a kid they think will be under the helm when this franchise turns it around. I think they have already turned the corner this offseason. While it may be a dramatic way of going about it, the Lions are emphatically going all in with this pick, selecting who they thought was the best QB in the draft and we all know, it takes a legitimate QB to lead a team to the next level (and by next level, I don’t mean the next level for the Lions–which would be winning a game–I mean that figuratively, the next level).
With the way things have gone this offseason, if the Lions truly felt this was the guy then I trust them until proven otherwise. This isn’t the Millen era anymore, where we can automatically presume the Lions made the wrong choice. This is the Mayhew/Schwartz era and so far, they have impressed. The Lions have many more picks in this draft that we can judge the Lions on and surely, we will. We will dissect every single pick like a pig in a biology assignment. (I’ve done this at least). I don’t think this is necessarily the pick to dissect. Sure it will be an easy target for media and fans alike and the Lions are making themselves vulnerable if this pick does fail, but this took balls and I like balls.
It will be exciting to see who we get with the No. 20, because I think that will be the hardest pick for the Lions. The No. 1 pick is tough because it has the most scrutiny, but the No. 20 will take the most strategy and be the toughest to get right. At No. 1 you basically have a group of five guys who you can’t go wrong with on draft day. Obviously, some pan out and some don’t but I don’t think the Lions could go wrong at that point as they had several holes to fill. And I think they still have several holes to fill, but at No. 20, nineteen guys who could have filled those holes are now gone, even though we’ll still have plenty to pick from.
The next question that will be heavily debated following the draft will be how the Lions handle Matt Stafford. How Stafford pans out will have a lot to do with how the Lions handle him as a Rookie. It’s easy to look at the Ravens and Falcons of this past season and think just because they had Rookies starting at QB that the Lions can do similar things with Stafford at QB. However, those teams were already predominantly developed outside the QB positions. The Lions have plenty of other holes to fill and are nowhere close to being at the level where a QB alone can help them get to the level of the Falcons or Ravens.
With that being said, the Lions are paying this guy a lot of money over the next six years. When you pay a guy that kind of money, you don’t stand him next to Drew Stanton (or Henson) and expect him to hold a clipboard all season long. That better be a pretty important clipboard for a guy to get paid that kind of money and ride the pine while Daunte Culpepper barely gets by on decrepit knees. It’s an interesting dicussion because the Lions have six seasons, so they might have a year if they feel it’s really necessary.
Either way, I’m pumped about this, so is Stafford, and from the looks of the picture above, he’s not the only person looking for the pump to the keg. I’m going to go drink some beers and enjoy this beautiful day.
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