Lions quarterbacks have been hit hard with the injury bug this season. Matthew Stafford hurt his right shoulder in the first game of the season and then injured it again in only his second game back. Shaun Hill, who replaced Stafford, broke his left arm the game before Stafford returned. Hill came back from that injury the game after Stafford got hurt again, so timing-wise the Lions have had things work out quite well all things considered.
The problem for the Lions now is that Stafford is not set to return anytime soon and Hill has suffered another injury involving a broken bone, according to Dave Birkett.
Shaun Hill broke the index finger on his throwing hand in the first half of last week’s loss to the Patriots and could miss the remainder of the season, a person familiar with the situation said.
With both Stafford and Hill out, Drew Stanton is set to be the Lions' starting quarterback. He took the first-team reps in practice on Tuesday and is the only healthy QB on the roster with real experience in the Lions' system. Zac Robinson is also on the roster, but he only joined the team earlier this month. If something were to happen to Stanton, Robinson would get the call, but I can't imagine much of the playbook would be available in that scenario.
With the Lions potentially down to only two healthy quarterbacks for the time being, they worked out J.T. O'Sullivan and Josh McCown on Monday. Interestingly, both players are former Lions. O'Sullivan was with the Lions in 2007 mainly because Mike Martz was the offensive coordinator. McCown was with Detroit in 2006 and actually played some wide receiver by the end of the season, passing Mike Williams on the depth chart in the process. He was traded to Oakland during the 2007 NFL Draft (along with Williams) after Stanton was drafted, so this whole thing is seemingly coming full circle and not in a good way.