Detroit Lions: If Matthew Stafford goes, then everyone must go

THE KING’S VERDICT

On Monday, Dan Patrick of “The Dan Patrick Show” asked Peter King of NBC sports if the Detroit Lions should entertain trading Matthew Stafford to the Jacksonville Jaguars (11-26-18, Hour 1 – Peter King), and his strong reply was a bit surprising:

"“I certainly would. I just feel like it’s a little bit of Groundhog Day in Detroit. I’m not saying it’s all Stafford’s fault. He’s playing with a severely depleted support staff, especially when Kerryon Johnson is not there. And all these, you know, he’s playing receivers that are new and all that. So, I don’t judge him totally for the failure that’s happening there right now. But I will just say this, it just seems like we’ve seen the same movie time and time and time again in Detroit.”"

Peter King is certainly one of the most respected sports writers in the country (and I count myself as one of his biggest fans), but his advice for Detroit just seems wrong.

If Jacksonville got Stafford, they would be Super Bowl contenders next year. The Jaguars, unlike the Detroit Lions, have elite talent on defense. With Stafford, there offense would be good enough to make a real run for a title. Don’t forget they reached the AFC Championship game last year with lowly quarterback Blake Bortles.

My question is: how does King think this is the same old story? Yes, the “lack of playoff wins” story rings true year after year (one win in six decades). But how does getting rid of the most talented quarterback this team has had in those sixty years help the Detroit Lions to win?

The problem here is a roster that is not good enough to win. Even if the Jaguars give a bounty of draft picks, will it be worth it? The search for a quarterback can take years, even decades.

And, in all fairness, Stafford has not played well this year. Something is just off, and he has failed to help this team win close games. The Detroit Lions could easily have flipped their record to 7 and 4 (instead of 4 and 7), if Stafford had played the way he has in the past.