10 Reasons Why the Lions Should Sign Daunte Culpepper

Daunte Culpepper was brought in for a workout this morning, citing a better opportunity in Detroit than in Kansas City, where he was supposed to visit. 

After the workout, ESPN's John Clayton reported that the Lions and Culpepper were in contract negotiations on a deal and that Daunte is looking for at least a two-year deal through the 2009 season. 

I am excited about this on many levels as I will explain later, but this could be another good move for the interim GM Martin Mayhew in his quest to remain the GM going forward. 

Popular thought is that Detroit will bring a new GM in after the season to run things but Mayhew has already made some noteworthy moves.  He put Jon Kitna on IR, effectively ending his season and run with the Lions.  He traded Roy Williams to the Cowboys for three draft picks, while unloading a heavy contract and potential headache next season. Now he brings in a very capable quarterback in Culpepper who could revive his career and football as we've come to know it in Detroit.  Let's examine. 

Aside from the glaring and obvious failures of the Detroit Lions over the past 10 years, and the rather bleak past 50 years since their last championship, the poor player and personnel decisions have been unsurpassed by any other franchise. 

To expand on this, I will point out that the Lions haven't had a Pro Bowler under center since Greg Landry in 1971, a ridiculous 37 year stretch.  Prior to that, you had to go back to Hall of Famer Bobby Layne who was a six-time Pro Bowler and two-time, first team All-Pro, while delivering three NFL Championships to Detroit. 

Unfortunately, that was before the NFL/AFL merger and the Super Bowl, meaning that Detroit has never won or even been to a Super Bowl.  In fact, they have only won one playoff game, against Dallas in 1991, since their last championship.

In addition to those points, here are my top 10 reasons why the Lions should sign Daunte:

1. The Lions are in need of a capable signal caller to lead this team and offense going forward.  Dan Orlovsky seems to have shown that he can be a capable backup in the league, but doesn't have the ability or experience to be a top end QB.  He checks down way too often, doesn't take many shots down the field and doesn't have a huge arm. 

Drew Stanton is young and unproven. While many fans would like to see what he has, let's not forget that he was an above average quarterback in college, nothing special, and struggled with accuracy and decision making.

2. Daunte is a three-time Pro Bowler. Finished runner up to Peyton Manning in the MVP voting in 2004. You'd have to go back to Barry Sanders, who won in 1997, for the last Lions MVP contender.

3. Daunte was awesome in High School, College, and the Pro's, showing that his talent was for real and that he could succeed at any level.  He's a member of the Florida HS All-Century team, is one of only three college players to pass for over 10,000 yards and rush for over 1,000 yards in his career, and holds the record for most total offense in a season with 5,123, which broke Dan Marino's mark in 2004.

4. The Lions need a quarterback that can get out of the pocket and Daunte can do that.  He is one of the most prolific rushers from the QB position in NFL history.

5. Daunte has a big arm.  He was noted for his seven year run in Minnesota, where he and Randy Moss formed one of the most dangerous and successful connections in history.  The Lions have Calvin Johson, who has been compared to Moss in many respects, and both Calvin and Daunte could benefit from each other.

6. Daunte is only 31 years old.  There are many current NFL quarterbacks having success well after the age of 31.  Some current examples are Peyton Manning, Donovan McNabb, Kurt Warner, and Marc Bulger.

He is coming off of two sub-standard years with the Dolphins and Raiders, both of which were during his recovery from a devastating knee injury. It typically takes two years for someone to fully recover from knee ligament damage and Daunte has had ample time to rest.

7. Daunte has had the opportunity to sit on the sideline this year, rest and workout, while waiting for the right opportunity to continue his career.  He apparently sees the Lions as that place and who are we to disagree?  We've been horrible, he's shown he can be great!  It's a win-win because if he doesn't do well, we didn't waste a ton of money to find out like we would with a 1st round draft pick (e.g. Joey Harrington).

8. We still can get Stanton some time while Daunte learns the playbook and at the end of games if we are winning/losing by a lot.  The true plan, if the Lions are smart, should be to bring him in and let him get used to everything while platooning, then go into 2009 with him raring and ready to go.

9. We need all the help and talent we can get.  For all the faults people can try to say about Culpepper, he definitely has the talent and ability.

10. Why not?  We've been losers for so long and haven't had much luck drafting QB's as our best seasons by QB's were all by guys we got trough free agency (Scott Mitchell, Jon Kitna, Erik Kramer)

Your comments are encouraged!  Fire away!