The 49ers could put an old cliché to the test in this off-season.
It has been said that wherever there is smoke, there is fire. And there’s supposedly been “a lot of smoke” between the 49ers and Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford.
The 49ers’ interest in Stafford has been a dominant topic at this week’s Senior Bowl in Mobile, Alabama, KOA NewsRadio’s Benjamin Albright reported Thursday.
Stafford, 32, and Lions are expected to split up during this off-season. Coach Kyle Shanahan and general manager John Lynch publicly supported Jimmy Garoppolo as the starting QB in 2021, after a disappointing and injury-filled season in 2020, but that was before Stafford’s relationship with the Lions came to an end.
Last season, Stafford shot for 4,084 yards, 26 touchdowns and 10 interceptions in 16 games for Detroit this season. Stafford also obtained the second highest yardage average per career attempt (7.7) and posted his fifth highest passer score (96.3).
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Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reported on Wednesday that about “a third of the league” has already called Lions about the Stafford switch, so the 49ers is certainly not the only team interested in QB.
There is still almost two months to the beginning of the next year of the NFL league, and not even one week it has been since Stafford allegedly asked to be traded. A lot can happen between now and March 17th, so we’ll see if the reported smoke leads to a real fire.
The state of the 49ers quarterback depth chart is at stake, as is the fate of an old buzzword. In other words, there is a lot at stake in Stafford’s future.
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