Notes: National outlets weigh in on legitimacy of Matthew Stafford trade rumors

• Thanks to a late-night report from WDIV that suggested the Detroit Lions were in trade talks surrounding Matthew Stafford, the media has gone in a bit of a frenzy. Lions general manager Bob Quinn quickly shot down the report from Bernie Smilovitz, but that hasn’t stopped national outlets from weighing in on the situations.

First, there’s national reporter Benjamin Albright, who is reporting that since the report dropped overnight, several teams have called the Lions about Stafford. Per Albright, “all have been told that Stafford is not available.”

NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport also weighed in, saying Stafford is “not being shopped” and furthermore, it makes no sense.

Profootballtalk’s Mike Florio has sources suggesting the rumors are false, and he has his own theory to the source of the misinformation, too: meddling agents of soon-to-be free agent quarterbacks.

That hasn’t stopped some, however, from adding fuel to the first. NFL.com’s Marc Sessler listed sending Stafford to the Chargers as one thing on his offseason wish list based on the recent rumor.

Additionally, The Ringer noted the Stafford rumor and how it underscores the Lions’ pivotal place in the NFL Draft, as they could do literally anything with that third overall pick.

Meanwhile, the local beat continues to repeat the same thing that most of us already know: It’s extremely, extremely unlikely the Lions move Stafford in 2020.

Finally, Yahoo Sports’ Dan Wetzel believes the right move is to keep Stafford for 2020, but still draft Alabama quarterback Tu Tagovailoa.

Alright, can we move on now? Great.

Here are the rest of today’s notes:

• Okay, one more note about Stafford. A reminder that he was playing pretty darn well before his injury:

• Kenny Golladay is working his behind off and not thinking too much about his contract situation right now. Touchdown Wire’s Dough Farrar talked with the Lions receiver about his offseason mentality.

• Want to be a Lions cheerleader? Registration is now open for auditions in April:

• Both Justin Rogers (here) and Chris Burke (here, but subscription required) put out thoughtful articles on whether the Lions should pay Darius Slay this offseason. SPOILER: They both think he’s worth it.

• Tyrell Crosby is enjoying is time off, taking in a little international football soccer.

• Noted extremely-level-headed-and-not-at-all-biased analyst Dan Orlovsky thinks the Lions are just two players away from being contenders.