Jets Checked in with Lions over Stafford

There was an interesting note in Albert Breer’s excellent MMQB column this morning in relation to the Jets.

Breer confirmed that the Jets did make a call to the Detroit Lions on Friday around the availability of Matthew Stafford.

Now he goes on to say that the talks never really became serious and what I took from it was that the Jets weren’t serious contenders for the Lions QB once the price became apparent.

Stafford did have a preferred list of destinations (which interestingly didn’t include New England), but without a no-trade clause in his contract (like Watson has) he theoretically could have been shipped anywhere.

Joe Douglas is a very diligent man, we’ve heard that countless times over the last year, so it really doesn’t surprise me that he picked up the phone to check in evaluate the situation and understand the cost of Stafford.

Matt Stafford will be 33 this year and has been relatively durable during his career appearing in all games between 2011 and 2018 before missing some time in 2019. He’ll want to win now and that’s on offer with the Rams, the Jets sound as though they want to build with a QB who’s going to be around for a while, whether that’s Watson, Fields, Wilson or Darnold.

Unsurprisingly it does show the Jets are interested in upgrading their QB position. I wouldn’t read a massive amount into this, for all the overtures that have been sent Darnold's way by the new coaching staff, It really shouldn’t surprise anyone that the Jets have interest in exploring all options to improve on their poor QB play in 2020.