Tuesday open thread: Should the Lions keep 2 or 3 quarterbacks in 2017?

For Detroit Lions fans, all of the focus for the next few weeks will be on Matthew Stafford and his (presumably) ongoing negotiations with the team. But because everything is currently happening behind closed doors and we haven’t had anything new to report on that front for several weeks, let’s look behind the Stafford curtain.

Under Stafford on the depth chart is second-year player Jake Rudock, who has reportedly shown a lot of improvement over the course of a calendar year. Behind him is sixth-round rookie Brad Kaaya, who was once considered a potential first-round pick, but his 2016 season at Miami caused him to slide significantly down the draft board.

Good quarterbacks are a rare commodity in the NFL and the Lions have two backups that have high ceilings but an extreme amount of uncertainty. So today’s Question of the Day is:

Should the Lions keep two or three quarterbacks on their roster in 2017?

My answer: I’m almost always in favor of keeping just two quarterbacks on the roster, because when it comes down to it, your team is in a lot of trouble if your third-string quarterback is in the game, regardless of whether he’s been there all season or if he’s the result of a desperation signing.

But this situation has given me pause. It’s not very often that a team has no veteran backup, but rather two extremely raw, developmental projects. Though I’m sure the Lions would prefer to have one of them on the practice squad all year, waiving either player could easily result in losing them forever.

That being said, it still makes more sense to me for Detroit to try and sneak one—likely Brad Kaaya—on the practice squad. Even though he was considered a steal in the sixth round, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Kaaya clear waivers. Remember last year when a large majority of fans believed Jake Rudock would never go unclaimed on the waiver wire? Well, he did and managed to spend almost the entire 2016 season on the practice squad without getting poached.

Kaaya shouldn’t see the field under any circumstance in 2017, therefore it is hard to justify giving him a roster spot.

Your turn.