After losing Matthew Stafford midway through the 2019 regular season, the Detroit Lions proceeded to lose their final eight games on way to a 3-12-1 record.
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The hope was that Stafford would come back healthy in 2020 and the Lions would improve enough defensively to go from worst to first in the NFC North.
Well, we are now 5 games into the season and though Stafford is healthy, at least as far as we know, he has struggled, the defense has been horrendous, and despite beating the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 6, the Lions are off to a 2-3 start.
Though they are technically still alive for the playoffs, and their upcoming schedule has quite a few winnable games, there is a good chance the Lions could be sellers at the NFL trade deadline.
If the Lions are out of contention by the time the deadline rolls around, is it possible they look to trade Stafford to the highest bidder and officially begin what could be a painful rebuild?
Personally, I don’t think Stafford is going anywhere until his contract is up. At that point, if the Lions are not winning, I think he bolts for greener pastures.
That being said, here are 3 teams I think could make a pitch for Stafford if the Lions continue to slide.
San Francisco 49ers
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The 49ers are a solid team but Jimmy Garoppolo, in my opinion, is not a quarterback who I would trust to win it all, though he came close in the last Super Bowl. In fact, Garoppolo was benched in Week 5 in favor of C.J. Beathard, which shows how much faith the 49ers have in Jimmy G. Stafford is a better QB than Garoppolo and the 49ers could make the Lions an offer before the deadline.
Indianapolis Colts
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In the offseason, the Colts acquired veteran quarterback Philip Rivers, and though he is playing respectable, he is not going to be around much longer. I’m not so sure the Colts would make a deal before the 2020 deadline but they certainly could float an offer out there if the Lions make Stafford available.
New York Jets
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This one is interesting because heading into the 2020 season, many so-called experts believed Sam Darnold would eventually lead the Jets to the NFL Playoffs. Personally, I have never been a Darnold slappy and my bet would be that he will never be more than an average QB in the league. Enter Matthew Stafford. The Jets are desperate to win and Stafford still has plenty of gas left in the tank to lead them to the playoffs if they can build a team around him (and hire a new head coach). Some have mentioned the Jets go after Stafford, and I can see them getting crazy and making the Lions a massive offer but this one seems a bit more far-fetched to me.
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