He was thrust into the starting job as rookie but suffered through the season as the talent around him was atrocious. His season ended in late December with a knee injury. The following season Stafford once again felt the injury bug, injuring his throwing shoulder in the season opener. He only played three games that year. But in 2011, Stafford and the Lions seemed to put it all together. We finally saw the talent that made Stafford the number one overall pick. He became the second-youngest quarterback to throw for 5,000 yards in a season, and he led the Lions to the playoffs for the first time since 1999. He actually matched Drew Brees throw for throw in the Wild Card game, until late in the 4th when he threw a couple of costly picks. Last season was a major dissapointmnet in most people's eyes as the Lions underachieved, and Stafford regressed into a more innaccurate, turnover-prone QB (Stafford's final stats: 4,900 yards, 20 TD, 17 INT).
But when I look at these rankings I ask myself, "Who do I most want to have on my team, at the quarterback position, entering this season?". Maybe I'm too high on Stafford. He's really only produced one fantastic year over his four years. But I look at his talent. His explosive arm. His Jay Cutler/Ben Roethlisberger-esque guts. Then I look at the guys I ranked slightly below Stafford. I love his throwing talent compared to a Cam Newton or Colin Kaepernick. Plus, I've seen more of Stafford than a guy like Caepernick (again, prove it for more than 10 games. At least give me a full season, Colin). And then there's a Schaub and a Rivers. And I truly believe that this guy has more talent than either of them.
Listen, I understand Stafford makes too many risky throws at times. He's like Cutler in that regard. His decision-making definitely could improve. But I also have to look at the situation he's been in with Detroit. Throw out the first year. That was a lost cause from the start. Unfortunately you have to throw out year two as well, since he couldn't play. But in his first true, healthy year, and with talent around him, Stafford led the team to the playoffs. And last year, the Lions defense was just as bad as it always has been, plus they had no running game and their wide receivers were dropping like flys due to injury, besides Megatron. The bottom-line is that I believe in this guy's talent, I do think he is a "tough" QB that fights through injuries, but he needs to prove that he can continue to stay healthy, as well as improve his decision-making if he wants to climb up the list.
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