Can Matthew Stafford’s back carry the Detroit Lions anymore?

The Lions  should be concerned about the future

While Stafford hasn’t led the Lions to the Super Bowl or playoff glory, he has given his all for a franchise that is absolutely fine with being mediocre. A franchise that has never truly seen what Matthew could do if surrounded with a cast of contenders.

For all he’s done he does deserve to retire on his own terms, but his back may not allow that to be the case. That means someone in the organization, preferably Martha Firestone Ford herself, needs to be willing to look out for the future of this franchise.

General manager Bob Quinn and Matt Patricia are charting their offseason strategy focusing on one point and one point only; keeping their jobs.

That means a heavy investment in the defense and spending as much time as possible on their knees praying that Matthew will be healthy. To which I don’t necessarily have a problem with, but unless the defense makes a major turnaround and becomes among the best in the league and Matthew stays healthy and continues to thrive in Darrell Bevell’s offense, next season will be another train wreck.

Plain and simple; the Lions need to be ready for beyond next season. Martha Firestone Ford herself should put forth the mandate to select Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa if the medical reports give him a clean bill of health.

Frankly, I can’t believe that Tagovailoa would leave Alabama if there were any medical concerns. If there was he would have returned to Alabama to try his best to be ready for next year. He knows full well that every NFL team will get their hands on every detail of his medical records, not to mention team doctors checking him out.

Tagovailoa would have to be stupid to enter the draft if there were any concerns in his medical reports. But if everything checks out as it should, then the Lions have been given an opportunity to have a future. Never look a possible franchise quarterback in the mouth.

The two cornerstone positions in the NFL are franchise quarterback and dominant edge-rusher. Everything else comes after that and they aren’t that easy to find. When one falls into your lap, you take it. Period!

So what will happen? Well, Bob Quinn and Matt Patricia were comfortable with not having a viable backup plan at quarterback this year. The ramifications become much larger if they have to actually replace Matthew because his back forces him out of the game.

Can Quinn, Patricia, and Mrs. Ford pull off the feat of transforming the Lions into a playoff team? If not they better at least have something they can hang their hats on for the future. Like a young franchise quarterback.