Detroit Lions new regime will pay for this draft mistake

Lions’ haunted by the mistakes of the past

The biggest decision that will be facing the Lions’ new regime is what to do with Matthew Stafford. A conundrum that goes back to Martha Firestone Ford and Sheila Ford Hamp.

There are two mistakes that Martha and Sheila made which have caused the Lions to be in their current predicament. The first was the decision last offseason to keep Bob Quinn and Matt Patricia. The second was the ultimatum they were given to ‘play meaningful games in December’.

Given that the former regime of Quinn and Patricia were going into their third season together, after two years of deconstructing this team and regressing, there had to be some progress in order to validate the decision to keep them.

Because of the mandate to be competitive, that meant Bob Quinn was going to use the Lions’ first pick in last year’s draft on a player to help the team make progress, instead of acquiring an essential building block for the future of the franchise; a quarterback.

Now one year later those missteps are even more glaring.

It can easily be said that if the Lions were in the same situation as last year holding the number three overall pick with a chance to land a franchise quarterback, the job openings for general manager and head coach here in Detroit would be fairly enticing. Especially given that new regimes usually like to bring in their own players.

Instead, The Lions are once again caught in limbo. The top two passers in the draft will be gone by the time Detroit is on the clock this April and it looks very much like BYU’s Zach Wilson will be off the board as well.

As for the prospect of keeping Matthew Stafford, it would only ensure that he will continue to wallow in mediocrity instead of being given the opportunity to showcase his abilities with an actual competitive NFL team and continue to keep this franchise from the complete rebuild it so desperately needs.

It also means that the Lions could basically be putting themselves on the hook for Matthew’s next contract. Trading him this offseason could bring valuable assets in return in the form of a high draft pick or two. Once he’s heading into the final year of his contract after next season, then the assets Detroit could get in return for him won’t be the same.