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Matthew Stafford and the Detroit Lions have agreed to part ways this offseason, which could (should?) Be of great significance to the 49ers as they look for potential improvements over Jimmy Garoppolo. A union between Stafford and San Francisco could end up being mutually beneficial.
Consider where Stafford’s career is located. He’s 32, a 12-year veteran, is under .500 as a starter and is 0-3 in the playoffs. This all comes despite being already No. 16 all-time in passing yards. Stafford is a better player than his record and the lack of playoff success would indicate. As he looks to turn the page on his career with years of glory still to come, a team like the 49ers could help him get rid of some of the monkeys that have taken up residence on his back.
A healthy version of the San Francisco 49ers would be the best roster Stafford has ever played on, and head coach Kyle Shanahan would be the best offensive coach he’s ever had.
The impact Shanahan has had on some other quarterbacks indicates great potential for Stafford in the 49ers’ offense.
This isn’t an apple-to-apple comparison because the offensive weapons are different, but it’s worth noting what Matt Ryan’s numbers looked like before Shanahan arrived in Atlanta and how they stack up against Stafford’s over the course of of the 12 seasons. Since Stafford played 55 more games than Ryan before Shanahan, we’ll stick to the averages mostly.
Ryan in his first seven seasons completed 64% of his throws for 256.1 yards per game, 7.2 yards per attempt, a 4.5% touchdown rate and a 2.4% interception rate . He maintained a passing grade of 91.1 in this period.
Stafford’s first 12 years are remarkably similar. He completes 62.6% of his passes for 273.4 yards per game and 7.2 yards per attempt. Its hit rate is 4.5% and its interception rate is 2.3%. Stafford’s passer rating is 89.9 after 12 years.
Both players also struggled in the playoffs. Stafford is 0-3 in his first three tries. Ryan was only 1-4 before Shanahan arrived and helped the Falcons get to the Super Bowl.
Ryan’s first season under Shanahan in 2015 was relatively similar to his first seven years, but his second season in that offense was his MVP year where he exploded for 4,994 yards, a rate of 7.1 TD, a rate of 1. , 3 INT and 9.3 yards per attempt. It’s not out of the realm of possibility that a player as talented as Stafford sees a similar increase in production, especially since he already has a 5,000-yard season under his belt and a few over 30 seasons. TD.
One reason to take a break might come when looking at Stafford’s .448 career winning percentage. Typically, quarterbacks don’t lose more than half of their games, but it’s worth emphasizing how appalling the Lions have been during that time.
Since Stafford was drafted in 2009, the Lions have finished defense in the top half of the league scoring three times – the same number of times they have finished defense in the top half in yards.
Their offensive lists haven’t been great either. While Stafford benefited from some good pass-catching weapons, there was no proper running game in Detroit. Since 2009, a player has been rushing for 1,000 yards in a season. It was in 2013 when Reggie Bush, 28, delivered 1,006 rushing yards.
The 49ers have a bump to overcome. They have been without a Super Bowl win since the 1994 season, and their last Super Bowl LIV trip failed in part because of the quarterback’s play. Garoppolo wasn’t the reason they lost, but it’s hard to imagine what the 49ers’ offense would look like with a quarterback spreading the pitch more effectively. Stafford would do that while providing a little financial relief in a year when the salary cap may start to be a problem for a talented San Francisco club that has players to pay.
The 49ers would take a quarterback who, on paper, would be an upgrade from Garoppolo. Not to mention, Stafford’s durability has been better throughout his 12 seasons. The only time he’s missed outside of his first two seasons is when he broke his back and missed eight games in 2019.
Maybe Shanahan doesn’t see Stafford as a sufficient improvement over Garoppolo. If the 49ers think there’s a better, healthier version of Garoppolo coming, or if the capital project needed to acquire Stafford gets too high, then maybe they’ll stick with him. However, given what we saw from Matt Ryan in Shanahan’s attack, it’s hard to imagine that they won’t at least kick the tires out to see if they can lift Stafford for them. help get back to the top of the NFL. Mountain.
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