Matthew Stafford and the Detroit Lions have agreed to part ways this offseason, which could (should be) important for the 49ers as they look for possible updates on Jimmy Garoppolo. A union between Stafford and San Francisco could end up being beneficial to both parties.
Think about where Stafford’s career lies. He is 32 years old, a 12-year veteran, has a record under .500 as a starter and is 0-3 in the postseason. All this comes despite the fact that he is already the number 16 of all time in passing gardens. Stafford is a better player than his record and the lack of postseason success would indicate that. As he tries to turn the page on his career while still in his early years, a team like the 49ers could help him let go of some of the monkeys that have been left behind.
A healthy version of the San Francisco 49ers would be the best roster Stafford has ever played and head coach Kyle Shanahan would be the best offensive coach he has ever had.
The impact Shanahan has had on some other quarterbacks points to great potential for Stafford within the 49ers offense.
It’s not an apple-to-apple comparison because offensive weapons are different, but it’s worth noting what Matt Ryan’s numbers were like before Shanahan’s arrival in Atlanta and how they compare to Stafford’s over the 12 seasons. Since Stafford played 55 more games than Ryan before Shanahan, we will stop mostly in the averages.
Ryan during his first seven seasons completed 64 percent of his throws for 256.1 yards per game, 7.2 yards per attempt, 4.5 percent touchdown and 2.4 percent interception. It remained with a score of 91.1 in this period.
Stafford’s first twelve years are very similar. He completes 62.6 percent of his passes for 273.4 yards per game and 7.2 yards per attempt. His touchdown rate is 4.5% and his interception percentage is 2.3%. Stafford’s passer score is 89.9 after 12 years.
The two players also struggled in postseason situations. Stafford is 0-3 in their first three tries. Ryan was only 1-4 before Shanahan arrived and helped the Falcons reach 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, 1.3 INT rate and 9.3 yards per attempt. It’s not out of the realm of chances that such a talented player is Stafford who sees a similar rise in production, especially since he already has a 5,000-yard season at the waist and a couple of seasons of more than 30 TDs.
One of the reasons for the break may come when looking at Stafford’s career.448 percent gain. Normally big quarterbacks don’t lose more than half of their games, but it’s worth noting how abysmal the Lions have been during that time.
Since the Stafford selection in 2009, the Lions have had a defensive end in the top half of the league by scoring three times, the same number of times they have had a defensive end in the top half in yards.
His offensive lists have not been stellar either. While Stafford benefited from good weapons to catch the footsteps, there was no execution game in Detroit. Since 2009, they have had one player in a hurry for 1,000 yards in a season. It was in 2013 when Reggie Bush, 28, posted 1,006 running yards.
The 49ers have a hump to overcome. They have been without a Super Bowl victory since the 1994 season and their last trip to the Super Bowl LIV fell short in part due to the quarterback play. Garoppolo wasn’t the reason they lost, but it’s hard to imagine what the 49ers ’offense would be like with a quarterback pulling the field more effectively. Stafford would do all this by providing a small financial relief in a year when the salary cap could start to be an issue for a talented San Francisco club that has some players to pay.
The 49ers would take on a quarterback listed on paper to be an update on Garoppolo. Not to mention Stafford’s durability has been better throughout his 12 seasons. The only time he has missed out on his first two seasons was when he fractured his back bones and lost eight games in 2019.
Maybe Shanahan doesn’t see Stafford as a sufficient update on Garoppolo. If the 49ers believe there will be a better and healthier version of Garoppolo to come, or if the capital project needed to acquire Stafford increases too much, they may stick with it. Still, given what we’ve seen from Matt Ryan on Shanahan’s offense, it’s hard to imagine that they won’t at least skip the tires to see if they can lift Stafford to help them get back to the top of the NFL. mountain.