The quarterback position is in my opinion the most difficult to play in sports and also the most valuable, given the fact that the QB touches the ball on almost every play. It’s why teams are always trying to get their own franchise quarterback. And the reason why franchises who are lucky enough to come across signal callers like Peyton Manning and Tom Brady and always in Super Bowl contention.
So even if your quarterback isn’t among the elite, the value on that position still requires an organization to make sure he is a priority in all their decisions. It’s why many have speculated that the Lions next head coach will be offensive minded, to help with the struggles of their quarterback Matthew Stafford. Stafford is extremely talented, but has lacked the discipline and mechanics to take his game to the next level. Yet.
So that’s why the thought of quarterbacks having a say in who is hired as coach isn’t that surprising to me. In, fact, I’m surprised it doesn’t happen more. Stafford himself admitted he plans on having a say in the Lions decision.
“It’s something, however much they ask me to be a part of it, I’ll be a part of it,” Stafford told WJR-AM on Monday, per the team’s official website. “I’m not knocking on the door. They asked me to sit in on that one, and as more and more interviews happen, whether I’m in town to sit with them and talk or whether we talk on the phone — I’m sure I’ll have some involvement in that process.”
Stafford said his time with Caldwell, Baltimore’s offensive coordinator, was less about picking apart his mechanics than unpacking what went down during Detroit’s disappointing 2013 campaign.
“Honestly, it was just he and I sitting down and talking,” Stafford said. “He told me he watched basically every play of our season. He picked my brain about our team, and I picked his about his philosophy in coaching and all that kind of stuff.