A few weeks back, ESPN polled 50 NFL insiders—including general managers, head coaches and other lesser positions—to ask who are the top quarterbacks in the league. Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford came in at seventh on the list. 15 of 50 named him a Tier 1 quarterback, but averaging out he landed in the second tier.
MMQB’s Albert Breer conducted a similar poll recently. He asked 32 different people across the league. According to Breer, the poll included “general managers, head coaches, scouting directors, offensive coordinators and quarterbacks coaches.” He asked all them via text: “Who will be the Top 5 QBs in football at the end of the season?”
The results are pretty shocking. While Aaron Rodgers, Tom Brady and Drew Brees all expectedly filled out the top three, Matthew Stafford is not on the list. He did not receive a single vote from any of the 32 executives. Keep in mind that Jimmy Garoppolo, Jared Goff, Andrew Luck, Derek Carr, and Case freakin Keenum all garnered at least one vote.
Matthew Stafford has gone a long ways in gaining respect around the league, but it’s clear he still has plenty of people to win over.
- The folks over at “Good Morning Football” gave their picks for the 12 playoff teams of 2018. Only our good friend Nate Burleson had the Lions making the postseason:
The @gmfb hosts made their NFC playoff predictions today.
— GMFB (@gmfb) September 4, 2018
Who had the best picks: @heykayadams, @Nate13Burleson, @PSchrags or @KyleBrandt? #PredictionWeek pic.twitter.com/NG60UDQOV5
- The Lions have their “unofficial” depth chart for Week 1 against the New York Jets, and not much has changed except for a demotion on the defensive line.
- In continuing with their recent tradition of giving back to Detroit Lions fans, the team surprised this fan with tickets to the season opener on Monday night:
Lifetime #Lions fan, Ken, received a knock on the door from @RoaryNFL & @DETLionsCheer last night...and that was just the start of the surprises.
— Detroit Lions (@Lions) September 4, 2018
Watch how we kicked off #SeasonLaunchWeek presented by @RocketMortgage: pic.twitter.com/TKr03XhSxR
- Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press made his game-by-game predictions, and you probably won’t be happy with the result.
- Our friend Brett Kollmann of SB Nation blog Battle Red Blog created a hype video for 2018/season recap for 2017. It will get you 1000000 percent psyched for the season (even though the Lions are mostly absent):
- The Athletic (subscription required) details five plays that show why the Lions extended Quandre Diggs to a $20.4 million deal.