The 2020 Detroit Lions will have plenty of options in fixing their biggest offseason mistake from last year: finding a capable backup for Matthew Stafford.
Everything written below is based on the assumption that Matthew Stafford returns to the Detroit Lions healthy and ready to roll in 2020. A few months ago, I was worried about an impending retirement from #9, but nothing either Stafford or the organization has said to the press suggests that he’s seriously considering it.
Reports about Stafford’s recovery from the broken back he suffered in October have been positive. Therefore, picking up a new backup quarterback (or several of them) is of high importance heading into 2020, but at least it’s not a new starter the Lions are looking for.
If Bob Quinn has learned anything at all from the meltdown to end 2019, it’s that no matter how reliable your main guy is, the backup quarterback position needs to be taken seriously this time around.
I’m not saying it wasn’t last year, as the team worked out and signed over a half dozen guys along the way. Through that search though, none of them ended up being a viable option when Stafford went down.
In this post, I’ve sorted out all the potential routes the team could take this offseason to find a backup quarterback that could win games if needed, as well as an educated guess of how likely each route is to be taken by Quinn and Co.