Story yesterday that Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford played through broken bones in his back at the end of last year. It limited him the final third of the season, one which he had already been dealing with chest and finger injuries. He finished as the 20th-ranked fantasy quarterback (4-point TD passes, 1 for every 20 passing yards).
Stafford had other things to deal with last year, of course. The team traded away Golden Tate in a somewhat surprising move, and then Marvin Jones got hurt. That took away two of his top three receiving weapons.
Is a 2019 rebound possible? Jones is healthy, the team has added Danny Amendola and drafted tight end T.J. Hockenson, and Kenny Golladay could be primed for a big season. A lot of things have to go right, but Stafford did have a pretty nice track record prior to last year.
Between 2011 and 2017, Stafford was a top-10 fantasy quarterback six times. Only 2014, when he finished 15th, had he been outside the top 10 at the position. Before last year.
| MATTHEW STAFFORD, 2011-2018 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Pass | TD | Int | Run | TD | FF | Rk |
| 2011 | 5038 | 41 | 16 | 78 | 0 | 428 | 5th |
| 2012 | 4967 | 20 | 17 | 126 | 4 | 367 | 8th |
| 2013 | 4650 | 29 | 19 | 69 | 2 | 371 | 4th |
| 2014 | 4257 | 22 | 12 | 93 | 2 | 324 | 15th |
| 2015 | 4262 | 32 | 13 | 159 | 1 | 363 | 10th |
| 2016 | 4327 | 24 | 10 | 207 | 2 | 347 | 8th |
| 2017 | 4446 | 29 | 10 | 98 | 0 | 352 | 5th |
| 2018 | 3777 | 21 | 11 | 71 | 0 | 280 | 20th |
Points include 1 for every 20 passing yards and 10 rushing yards, 4 for TD passes and 6 for TD runs.
There's considerable depth at quarterback in 2019. I don't think anyone should be targeting Stafford, but if he's healthy -- and his main targets can stay that way -- he could be a pretty viable backup and sometimes starting quarterback, available very late in drafts.
--Andy Richardson