Matthew Stafford was hardly the Detroit Lions' biggest problem last season. Considering his recent career norms, though, it's also fair to submit the 10-year veteran was hardly at his best, throwing for 21 touchdowns, 11 interceptions, and 3,777 yards en route to a 53.8 QBR – the 22nd-best best mark in football, behind the likes of the Baltimore Ravens'Joe Flacco and San Francisco 49ers' Nick Mullens.
Stafford passed for fewer yards and touchdowns in 2018 than any season since his injury-riddled 2010 campaign, too, when he played just three games after being selected with the first overall draft pick one year earlier.
Could the Lions, then, be about ready to move on from Stafford? General manager Bob Quinn left open that possibility during a season-ticket holder event on Monday, insisting his team could indeed select a quarterback with the eighth overall pick come April depending on how the draft board falls.
“We'll consider any position in the draft at any point in time, whether it's the eighth overall pick or we have multiple picks later in the draft,” he said, per ESPN's Michael Rothstein. “We're in a position now with the eighth overall pick that the whole draft board is really wide open to us. We're not going to really eliminate any prospects.
“In previous years, at least my last couple years here, we've drafted anywhere from 16 to 22 I believe. It's a little bit different for us this year. There's a few more players that are going to be available and if there's a quarterback out there that we deem could help us this year or in the future, we'll never close the door on that.”
Detroit finished bottom-10 last season in points, passing yards, and rushing yards. The team replaced Jim Bob Cooter as offensive coordinator with former Seattle Seahawks play-caller Darrell Bevell last month. There are several quarterbacks who have the chance to be top-10 picks in the 2019 draft, including Ohio State's Dwyane Haskins and Oklahoma's Kyler Murray.
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