Let the race begin. At least, that's the thought process in Detroit. According to Adam Schefter of ESPN, the Lions have started speaking with other teams interested in Matthew Stafford, seeing what they can get in return for the quarterback. Are the San Francisco 49ers among those teams?
Teams already are reaching out to the Detroit Lions to initiate trade talks and figure out what it would take to acquire QB Matthew Stafford, per sources.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) January 26, 2021
Ian Rapoport of NFL Media added on Wednesday morning that nearly a third of the league has already reached out to the Lions to inquire about a trade.
Stafford will not play for the Lions in 2021. The team and player have mutually agreed to part ways, and many analysts and reporters feel that the 49ers are among the favored landing spots for the former No. 1 overall pick.
The 49ers have Jimmy Garoppolo, who led the team to a Super Bowl just a year ago. However, he has also missed 23 games over the last three seasons due to injuries. While Stafford has dealt with his own injury issues, he played in all 16 games during each season since 2011, except for 2019, when he appeared in just eight.
What Stafford hasn't done is win playoff games. He has appeared in just three over his career, suffering a defeat in each one.
Stafford, 32, completed 339-of-528 attempts (64.2 percent) for 4,084 yards with 26 touchdowns and 10 interceptions through 16 games in 2020. The Pro Bowl quarterback has completed 62.6 percent of his passes for 45,109 yards with 282 touchdowns and 144 interceptions through his 12 NFL seasons.
As explained by David Lombardi of The Athletic, Stafford's cap hit for any interested team would be about $20 million in 2021 and about $23 million in 2022. By comparison, Garoppolo's cap hit is about $27 million for each of the next two seasons.