The final quarter of Matthew Stafford's final season with the Lions might start this Sunday. His future in Detroit is up in the air with a new head coach and new general manager taking over next year.
The Lions could go any number of ways with Stafford. Build around him again. Retain him to mentor a new quarterback. Trade him and start over. All options are on the table.
NBC Sports football analyst and former All-Pro linebacker Takeo Spikes believes Stafford will be on a new team next season.
"I personally like Matt Stafford, played against him several times. I don’t think he will be back," Spikes told the Stoney & Jansen Show. "You're going to have a new head coach, you’re going to have a new GM, and it’s important for those guys to be on the same page."
Spikes believes the next regime is better off bringing in a new QB than trying to make it work with Stafford. And without someone like Tom Brady on the market this offseason -- "a for-sure guy who is going to bring in instant wins," said Spikes -- the draft is Detroit's best option.
Trading Stafford would be part of that plan.
"And I don’t say that meaning he can’t play anymore," Spikes said. "If I’m Matthew Stafford, I would want to finish (strong) these last four games of the year, because there’s plenty of teams out there -- several teams -- yeah, they can talk about all of the young QB’s coming out in the draft, but there’s no guarantee.
"So why not go and get somebody who is already under contract? And if you make a trade, you can still fall under certain parameters to where your quarterback isn't the highest-paid quarterback in the league and he’s not draining your salary cap."
Stafford, who turns 33 this offseason, is signed for two more years. He has a $33 million cap hit next year, $26 million the year after that. Should the Lions trade him, they'd incur dead cap hits of $19 million in 2021 and $6 million in 2022. In other words, they'd save $9 million against the cap over the next two years.
There will be suitors for Stafford, if the Lions choose to shop him. Back injuries have diminished his trade value, but he remains one of the most talented throwers in the game. And Stafford can rebuild some of that value by playing well to close out the year. He got off to a good start in his first game under interim head coach Darrell Bevell last week.
"They remember what you do in December," Spikes said. "I think this time is vitally important for Matthew Stafford, just as important as it is to the Detroit Lions."
Despite their 5-7 record and a rebuild that feels inevitable, the Lions are one game out of the playoffs. The dismissal of Matt Patricia seems to have given them life, with Bevell already changing the atmosphere. Don't look now -- especially with Aaron Rodgers looming on Sunday -- but Spikes thinks the Lions could be poised to make a run.
"If you had a coach you really didn’t like, you’re going to get players to play for Darrell Bevell and play for him even harder. I know personally a lot of guys didn’t like Matt Patricia," Spike said. "The reason why is, they felt like even if a guy made a play (Patricia) would always come back and critique: 'Well, you know you probably could have made that play a lot easier if you would have done this.' And that’s not really embracing what you have as a player, it’s not embracing his athletic ability. It’s always critiquing.
"When you don’t give guys little nuggets of faith, when you don’t give guys little nuggets of confidence, they’re not going to give you anything back in return. That’s the reason why I really see this team having the opportunity to make December a month to remember."