Now that we are about 12 hours removed from the news about Matthew Stafford breaking, I feel that it is necessary to tell everyone to take a deep breath and relax. Listen, I was one of the biggest anti-Stafford people on here for a variety of reasons, but the fact of the matter is that he is the top pick. That doesn't mean you can't share your opinion or voice your displeasure with the pick, as that is what being a fan is all about. However, I will not tolerate people that call each other names, constantly are swearing, or are posting other inappropriate things. You can disagree with the pick in a professional way, and just this morning I've seen a lot of people not doing that.
Aside from the appropriateness of some posts, I feel that it is important for everyone on the ledge to take a step back. If you want to jump before the draft even officially begins, then be my guest, but I don't want to hear it. Again, you can voice your opinion all you want, but I'm not going to sit here and read comments about how "like OMG, Mayhew is the worst GM ever!" If you seriously believe that before the draft even begins, keep it to yourself, as it doesn't add to the conversation. At least wait until one day of the draft is out of the way to make a judgment about Mayhew. That's what I'm going to do. He has shown us enough to warrant a chance in my opinion. Of course, his opinion with many of you took a hit last night, but we still have two more picks today to judge him on, so let's not pencil in a grade just yet.
Finally, this is nothing against Stafford and is completely unrelated, but how out of touch is the mass media? Just from watching some ESPN and NFL Network, it is obvious that the mass media doesn't do a whole lot of research. Since the Stafford deal was announced, I've heard one girl on the NFL Network ask Dan Miller, the voice of the Lions, if a pick like this will re-energize the city of Detroit with the excitement it brings. Aside from the ridiculousness of a pick re-energizing a city, especially when he is making so much money, do these people on TV not understand that the majority of fans didn't even want Stafford to be the pick? I could understand them being clueless if the only polls about the top pick were on a blog like POD, but the Lions' official website had one and Stafford finished third behind Aaron Curry and Jason Smith.
On top of that, listening to Deion Sanders talk about how drafting someone like Stafford will sell tickets really angered me. How is someone that likely won't start, at least early on, going to sell tickets? Mike Mayock chimed in and said that for the amount of money Stafford is being paid, he better start from day one. That is an entirely different conversation that I'm sure we will have shortly, but Mayock has a point. Fans are going to want to see Stafford play, even though the smart thing to do is leave him on the bench and not throw him to the wolves so early in his career. People bring up Matt Ryan and Joe Flacco as examples of why he should play, but let's face it, the Falcons and Ravens were much better situations for rookie quarterbacks than Detroit is right now. Besides, Ryan and Flacco were fifth-year seniors by the time they went to the NFL. Stafford left after his junior season and probably needs more time to fully ready for the league.
Anyways, I don't want to go on a rant about that right now since it is a discussion we will likely have on a daily basis from now until the start of the season. Just make sure to read the top two paragraphs and chill. Like I said, I was one of the biggest anti-Stafford people on here, but it's time to start to move on. You can obviously share your opinion and disagree with the pick -- I've done it a lot -- but at least do it in a professional way and relax.