The Detroit Lions are in the middle of another miserable seasons, that might result with a lot of people losing their jobs, and even Matthew Stafford leaving the team, as a new era, with a new quarterback, might be just around the corner for the Lions.
It’s been busy the last few weeks in Detroit, with head coach Jim Caldwell keeping his job despite the 1-7 start, but it’s not going to be surprising if he doesn’t finish the season. There’s some sort of power struggle and structural shift in the ownership situation for the Lions, but when it’s all over, there’s going to be a new general manager who’ll have to decide on the new direction for the franchise, and that includes maybe going for a new quarterback.
Despite the very high salary of Matthew Stafford, his contract is quite tradeable. The guaranteed money has already been paid, so it’s easier moving him around,with two years left on his deal that have $33.5 million on them. If the Lions would have put Stafford on the trading block going into the trade deadline, there would have been quite a few times trying to see what the Lions are asking for. It seems like half the league is going into 2016 without knowing who their quarterback is.
With the Lions possibly looking for a change and likely to draft very high in the 2016 NFL draft, going with someone younger and especially cheaper than Stafford, might be the direction they choose. Stafford hasn’t been bad in his seven seasons with the team, but the Lions expected more than two postseason appearances and no playoff wins. It’s better than what happened in the previous decade leading up to Stafford getting chosen, but with the Lions spending so much money on very few players in recent years, they thought those stars will take them further.
While this isn’t going to be the 0-16 season that is low point in the history of this franchise, it’s unlikely this season will be far away from that benchmark. The Lions are awful on both sides of the line, and without having any kind of ability to dominate the line of scrimmage, all the talent in the world (and there isn’t a lot of it, especially not on defense) isn’t going to succeed in the long run. It might not be Caldwell or Stafford that are to be blamed for the terrible decisions by the ownership and front office, but they are expendable, just like anyone who has something to do with this season being a disaster.
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