Matthew Stafford a foregone conclusion to tie passing yards milestone

He got ridiculously close last year, so former Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford is a virtual lock to tie a passing yardage milestone in the 2022 season opener.

As the 2021 season wound down, Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford was on a good track to becoming the fastest quarterback (by number of games) in NFL history to 50,000 regular season passing yards. Including playoff games he became the fastest quarterback in league history to 50,000 yards through the air, doing so in 182 games last December.

Of course Stafford’s career production up to last season came as the Lions’ quarterback–45,109 yards, 282 touchdowns in the regular season over 12 seasons in Detroit to be precise.

Matthew Stafford is an absolute lock to tie passing yardage milestone in Week 1

Jack Andrade of NFL.com dove into some milestones and records that could be reached or set during the 2022 season. Under “Quick Hits: 4 all-time records on the brink“, Stafford leads off.

"Matthew Stafford (49,995 career pass yards) needs five passing yards in his next game to tie Drew Brees for the fewest games (183) to reach 50,000 career pass yards all-time. Stafford and the Rams open the season against the Bills in the NFL Kickoff Game on Sept. 8."

So basically if Stafford takes the field for the season kickoff game against the Buffalo Bills on Sept. 8, he’ll tie Drew Brees for the fewest regular season games (183) to reach 50,000 passing yards. His first completion, and bets on it to be to Cooper Kupp wouldn’t be bad, is sure to be more than the five yards he needs.

Stafford had an anti-inflammatory shot in his elbow back in March, but he is expected to be cleared to throw by training camp.

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The injury-prone narrative that became easy earlier in his career has fallen by the wayside. So expect Stafford to be on the field for Week 1, tie Brees for fewest regular season games to 50,000 yards on the first drive of the season and follow with another productive campaign in 2022.