The Denver Broncos are apparently not on Deshaun Watson’s shortlist if the Houston Texans star gets traded in the 2021 offseason, but what about Matthew Stafford?
At this point, nobody really knows.
Some of the early buzz with Stafford has linked him to the San Francisco 49ers and possibly the Los Angeles Rams. Many pundits felt like the Indianapolis Colts were the best possible choice for both Stafford and the team.
At this point, things have been pretty quiet as far as what has been reported but the buzz specifically relating to the Denver Broncos has been virtually non-existent.
Even as quiet as things have been concerning the Denver Broncos and Stafford, you never know what is going on behind the scenes. According to Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network, the Lions are expected to deal the 32-going-on-33-year-old Stafford before the Super Bowl.
JUST IN: Lions expected to trade QB Matthew Stafford before Super Bowl (via @RapSheet)https://t.co/ZbhpmggpXq pic.twitter.com/RHvfCjltox
— Around The NFL (@AroundTheNFL) January 30, 2021
Rapoport (NFL Network in general) has been on top of the Stafford information coming out from the beginning.
Tom Pelissero of NFL Network was the first to report that the Lions and Stafford had mutually agreed to part ways. It was Rapoport who then reported this past week that nearly a third of the league had reached out to the Lions to express interest in at least exploring the price for Stafford.
That would put the bidding war at nearly 10 teams if the Lions are the ones controlling the narrative.
With another report from ESPN that Stafford would be interested in the Rams leading up to this report from Rap Sheet about the Lions likely getting this deal done by the Super Bowl, it seems like Detroit is making one final push to get maximum value in return.
It makes sense that Detroit would be leaking to the media that:
- 10 teams are interested
- At least one team might be preparing an aggressive offer
- The deal will be done by the Super Bowl
This would be Controlling the Narrative 101.
The Lions realize they can probably get nice value for Stafford, and leaking this specific information really helps them maximize that value. A lot of teams interested and a short time for teams to bring their best offer to the table likely equals great value for Detroit.
How much say Stafford has in his destination will be interesting to learn about when all of this is said and done. Stafford doesn’t have a no-trade clause, but he’s been such a huge piece of Lions history that you would think the team would at least give him some say if offers from multiple teams are comparable.
How aggressive will Denver Broncos GM George Paton be in pursuit of a veteran like Stafford? That could be telling.
We know that John Elway has a history of pursuing veteran quarterbacks, Vic Fangio is entering year three and likely feels the urgency to win now, and Paton has been going up against Stafford twice a year since 2009.
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