Could Lions Make Another QB Change?

October 29, 2008   ·   Paul Raymond   ·   Jump to comments

Based on all the news reports, you’d expect me to say Daunte Culpepper will be taking over as quarterback of the Detroit Lions very soon. Well, guess what that’s not what I’m going to say. Lost in all of this talk about Culpepper joining the team is the battle for the quarterback position between players currently on the roster. Current starter Dan Orlovsky has clearly struggled while running on the offense, so some have begun to wonder when backup Drew Stanton will start to see some playing time. Tom Kowalski at MLive.com suggests that Stanton could see some time this weekend. It’s completely speculative but he has some pretty good reasons behind his thinking.

Kowalski suggests the Lions should allow Stanton to play a series or two in the second half. This would give the kid a chance to come in and show you what he can do in an actual game scenario, which is something that’s pretty hard to do in practice. For a team that has no wins and will struggle to even get two or three of those this season, I like this thinking. The Lions right now have nothing to lose, so why not begin the process of evaluating your young talent? Treat these last nine games as if they were pre-season. Now by no means do I mean start benching starters later in the game, and letting the young guys play. You can gradually mix in a guy here and there in certain scenarios and see how they mesh with the current starters. You never know you could find a diamond in the rough at the end of your bench. But I digress. Let’s get back to the quarterback situation.

The team already knows the type of quarterback that Orlovsky is going to be. At least I hope they do. He’s got the talent to be a serviceable backup, but doesn’t look like he will ever be the guy you want as a starter for a team that could contend. When it comes to Stanton they really don’t know what they have. By giving Stanton a chance to play the next couple weeks will give the Lions a better chance to evaluate and see if he can be a starter in the NFL.

Kowalski suggests that this would assist the team in their decision on whether or not to sign Culpepper to a multi-year deal. It could even give Daunte a chance to see where he would stand with the team. The last thing Culpepper wants to do is sign with an organization for multiple years and then realize he has no chance to be their starter. He cited “unfinished business” as his reasoning for returning to the NFL, which means he wants to prove he can still start.

Everything Kowalski has said is purely speculative on the playing time, but I do like the thought and it makes perfect sense. By saying it makes sense has me believing that this won’t take place. In the past decade when have the Lions made any moves that actually made sense?

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