As a team, the Detroit Lions fell short of making the NFL Playoffs in 2017 but that does not mean they did not have a handful of players who did their job on the field.
Matthew Stafford was certainly one of those players.
During the 2017 campaign, the Lions signal-caller completed 65.7% of his passes for 4,446 yards and 29 touchdowns. In comparison to other quarterbacks around the league, Stafford was third in both completions and passing yards, fourth in touchdown passes, and sixth in completion percentage and quarterback rating.
Matthew Stafford ranked third in @NFL in completions and passing yards, fourth in TD passes and sixth in completion percentage and QB rating. #OnePride pic.twitter.com/VzBu6fuX4L
— Detroit Lions (@Lions) January 9, 2018
There is little question about it that Stafford is a top 10 quarterback in the league at worst and many would even put him in the top 5.
But Pro Football Focus disagrees as they often seem to do when it comes to rating players at any position.
According to PFF’s “Final NFL QB Rankings by PFF Player Grades, 2017,” Stafford was the 14th best quarterback in the NFL.
Here is PFF’s explanation:
Stafford ended the campaign with an overall PFF grade of 83.3 – down from 85.9 a season ago – but it was a year of highs and lows, with the Lions’ fortunes typically resting on his performance. Stafford had six games this season with a PFF grade above 80.0, but he also had five that were 55.0 or worse and three that were below 50.0, bouncing all over the map in terms of performance and output.
Here is what the top 15 look like.
- Tom Brady
- Matt Ryan
- Ben Roethlisberger
- Drew Brees
- Carson Wentz
- Russell Wilson
- Alex Smith
- Philip Rivers
- Case Keenum
- Jimmy Garoppolo
- Aaron Rodgers
- Tyrod Taylor
- Marcus Mariota
- Matthew Stafford
- Jameis Winston
So, Stafford is in the same conversation as Jimmy Garoppolo, Tyrod Taylor, Marcus Mariota, and Jameis Winston, huh?
Sorry Pro Football Focus but you are dead wrong.
Again.
