Should the Detroit Lions sign Marcus Mariota in free agency?

Making the right choice

There are two questions that are in the minds of Detroit Lions fans when we think about the teams’ quarterback position; can Matthew Stafford stay healthy? And can this franchise find a possible successor? Both good questions and both important to the present and long-term future of this franchise.

During general manager, Bob Quinn’s press conference this past Monday, among the subjects that were breached was how the Lions might address the backup quarterback position. There are two conventional paths a team can go to fill such a void.

The first would be to sign a veteran free-agent quarterback that has the ability to help the team win should he be pressed into action. The second is to draft a young quarterback they can groom for the future, who hopefully doesn’t have to play soon while learning the in’s and out’s of playing in the NFL.

Either way, there is something gained and something lost. A veteran is about the present and probably doesn’t work into the future, while a rookie would struggle to try to carry the offense, much like David Blough did.

Remember on Thanksgiving Day when Blough shined for the most part against a good Chicago Bears defense? The Bears has little information on him and with the element of surprise, it wasn’t the strangest thing in the world to see Blough actually play fairly well.

Had the Lions defense been any good, they might have won that game. But the real point of interest was to see what happened next. Now NFL teams had film of Blough and could game plan against him.

The results the rest of the way were predictable. If Blough had been able to overcome teams like the Vikings and Packers who were able to prepare for him, it would have made quite a statement. Instead, he looked like a rookie facing NFL defenses.

But what if the Lions could get the best of both worlds? A player with NFL experience who is also still young and formative. That could satisfy finding a backup who could help win games if needed for the Lions next season but also still be groomed for the future.

A player like the Tennessee Titans soon-to-be free agent quarterback Marcus Mariota.