Kurt Warner knows a thing or two about the quarterback position. The former Super Bowl MVP offered his take on Detroit Lions QB Matthew Stafford while speaking to reporters at an NFL Network event this week. His opinion might surprise some.
“I think we saw a lot of growth from him this year,” Warner explained. “You lose Calvin Johnson and everyone goes, ‘okay, this can’t be good for anyone, especially the quarterback. But I think (Stafford) became more of a complete quarterback this year, more than he’s ever been, without Calvin Johnson.”
That’s certainly not what many were expecting when Johnson announced his retirement during last offseason.
“Without that crutch of, ‘okay, if nothing else, I can just throw it up to Calvin and he’ll make a play for me’ and you get into that mode of not necessarily playing the quarterback position,” Warner went on to say. “Now, he became a more complete quarterback and I think we saw some really good things from him.”
“I think they have to build some guys around him, they have to get better around him, but I think there were some great signs there that says, ‘maybe he can become that complete quarterback and take us to the next level if we surround him with the right guys.’”
Stafford certainly appeared to be more complete without Johnson, and did so in the form of being ranked in the top 10 in the NFL in yards (4,327), completion percentage (65.3) and TD-to-interception ratio (24-10).
