The State of Drew Stanton: Say Your Goodbyes

With the draft shaping up more and more to look like a quarterback is going to happen, I’m starting to feel that the only way Stanton is going to stay a Lion is if the team acquires Cutler (somehow, some way). If you manage to finagle Cutler, he’s clearly going to be the stater, he’s young and he’s talented and in a situation like that where you’re putting him on a ‘fresh start’ team, you hand him the keys and let him take a leadership role over the next few years in the interest of building from the ground up. If Cutler is the starter, Culpepper is out and he isn’t going to be interested in riding the pine, so Stanton will have a role to fulfill as QB number 2. Henson showed us nothing, so at least Stanton is young.

But, as much as I want it, odds are that the Cutler thing isn’t going to happen. It leaves my eyes salty with tears, but it just doesn’t seem like it’s in the cards for us.

And if the cards fall that way, then the number one draft pick may be spent on Matt Stafford. At the very least, it looks that way and if it goes that way, you have Culpepper to start and Stafford to sit and learn; Where does that leave Stanton? Out. Plain and simple, there isn’t a place for him. He’s young and I think he has potential, but Stafford as the no. 1 overall pick will be the future of the franchise and not just monetarily.

Stanton is just leftovers of the old regime, one coach and GM ago and two Offensive Coordinators ago.

It pains me to say this as I like Stanton a lot (I’m a Spartan, he’s one of mine). I even remember when that idiot John L. Smith put him in on special teams at the Alamo Bowl during which Nebraska was blasting us to pieces, and he took a helmet to the knee on a punt return. Your future starting quarterback being thrown to the wolves on a pointless play in a game that was already a loss 2 quarters prior. That knee always haunted him throughout his MSU career and I strongly feel that that held him back and caused other injuries such as his shoulder injuries that nagged him constantly. Why? How? *because he couldn’t slide*. The knee.

Remember that U of M game? He ran all over one of the best defenses in the country and had them running scared for 3 quarters, but it all fell apart after he came out of the game with a hurt shoulder. We could have controlled the clock had we had Stanton.

But that’s neither here nor there.

There were some inherrant problems with Stanton that we saw first hand this season. Well… We saw it on the internet. Because you couldn’t see any of the games on tv and who the hell would go? Pay money to see that crap?! Screw that.

We saw (those of us that kept watch the Lions after week 4) Stanton hold onto the ball too long in the interest of trying to make a play which lead to vicious sacks and turnovers. To his credit, he plays with no fear and a gritty determination. He was an excellent goal line qb that wasn’t afraid to jump up and try to punch it in. He has a decent arm, one that will hopefully get more accurate with time and a real offensive line and … well, I just like him, okay?

If the Lions can’t find a place for him this year, they need to cut him for his own good. This is a critical time in Drew’s career and a team needs to give him some snaps and allow him to integrate into a system, not as a band aid for your IR’d qb and your free agent that had the playbook for 3 days and got hurt, Stanton needs to be utilized as a legit talent that you can do something with.

Someone else will pick up this gem and brush the dirt off of it. Good Luck Drew!