It didn’t take terribly long for Matthew Stafford to make a splash in the offseason. Once Jim Schwartz was fired as head coach of the Lions it was reported that Matthew Stafford would be involved in the search for a new head coach. This meant meeting one on one with the coaching candidates and reporting back to team brass about how they interacted. This made some football purists lose their minds. Some believe that a player should never have a say in the coaches. A more practical way to think about it is by saying, “if we’re sinking all this money into our franchise QB and putting wins and losses primarily on his shoulders maybe we should make sure he and our coach are on the same page.”

Regardless what you may think about this from a football standpoint, this is great news for fantasy football players. Nothing is better than an offensive juggernaut like the Lions being paired with an offensive minded coach like Jim Caldwell. If the Lions can line up a solid wideout across from Megatron they’d really have something. Having Reggie Bush this last season really helped the offense as the threat of the pass was felt on every area of the field, and on every down. The TE position was a bit of a weak spot for the Lions with Brandon Pettigrew performing less than amazing. However, undrafted rookie Joseph Fauria caught 7 TD passes on only 18 total receptions, so his development is something to watch this offseason.

Matthew Stafford will continue to put up solid numbers for his fantasy owners. His primary value comes from the fact that he gives you top 10 production with top 5 upside, but doesn’t come off the board until the 4th round of drafts, meaning that you are able to build a solid team before adding your stud QB. Stafford must take this offseason to improve his game even more. The days of him being a young developing QB must come to a close. At this point in his career we don’t want to hear him being compared to Andrew Luck and Russel Wilson. With all the tools at his disposal it is up to Matthew Stafford to work hard enough and get his name mentioned in the same breath as Drew Brees.  Calvin Johnson will have a few surgeries early this offseason so we know he will be fine which means it’s up to Matthew Stafford and Matthew Stafford alone to become an upper echelon QB and a true fantasy force.

Think Stafford has got what it takes to be a top 3 QB? Maybe you’re not so keen on him leading your fantasy unit? Comment below and let us know what you think!