Matthew Stafford's Knee: Drew Stanton's Last Chance at an NFL Career?

Drew Stanton has caught the brunt of the Detroit Lions’ recent woes.

He was a second-round draft choice in 2007 to be to heir-apparent to Jon Kitna in a Mike Martz-led offensive system.

He was shut down his rookie year, both to nurse a minor knee injury (not unlike the one he suffered a few months ago in the preseason) and so Martz could tinker with his throwing motion.

Of course, Martz only lasted one season. Now, in three seasons, Stanton has seen three offensive coordinators, two head coaches, and four starting quarterbacks.

And none of those starting quarterbacks have been Stanton.

Stanton has systematically gotten a vote of  “no confidence” from every coaching staff he has seen.

The Lions with Martz running the offense put him on injured reserve early in 2007, effectively giving him a red-shirt rookie season.

Jim Colletto was offensive coordinator during the quarterback carousel that was the disastrous 2008 season. Jon Kitna was shut down after three games, then second-stringer Dan Orlovsky went down with an injury a few weeks later.

Then, in perhaps the biggest snub job in Stanton’s young career, Colletto said he wouldn’t play Stanton because he didn’t want him to “embarrass himself.”

This, mere weeks after Orlovsky ran out the back of the end zone .

The answer, of course, was not to give the only healthy, available quarterback familiar with your offensive system a shot at playing.

After all, Colletto was the offensive line coach during a season where the Lions gave up 54 sacks. So he knows all about embarrassment.

The answer was Daunte Culpepper. After four days with the team, a previously-retired, overweight Culpepper went out with the play book taped to his arm.

Stanton came in during a goal-line situation and in the fourth quarter of Culpepper’s debut and “embarrassed himself” to the tune of 6-for-8 for 96 yards and a touchdown.

He was effectively ignored the rest of the season, and the next game he saw action was last week at Lambeau Field.

Current head coach Jim Schwartz gave Stanton another confidence boost when they drafted new franchise face Matthew Stafford and paid him more money than any rookie in history.

In other words, nobody is going to give Stanton a shot unless they’re completely out of options.

The only good thing for Stanton is that Schwartz hasn’t gone out to sign Jeff Garcia to ensure there’s no chance of Stanton playing against the Rams after the bye.

That being said, nobody knows how long Stafford will be out with his current injury. But Stanton has exactly that long to show that he has worth to an NFL team, be it the Lions or anyone else.

This is assuming, of course, that Stanton would get the start over Culpepper if Stafford can’t go. Because if he doesn’t, it’s time to take Schwartz’s “best players will play” mantra and beat him over the head with it.

Stanton’s contract with the Lions runs through 2010, so he will theoretically be on the roster through next year.

By contrast, Culpepper is in the final year of his contract, which should bring Stanton up to a permanent No. 2 on the depth chart next year (if the last couple of weeks haven’t already done that).

But if Stanton can’t show himself capable of something by the end of this season, who’s to say the Lions don’t sign someone else in the offseason and bump Stanton down to No. 3 again?

Stanton’s career thus far certainly sets that precedent.

Another precedent is that young quarterbacks who never even make the backup job on bad teams tend to disappear when their contract ends.

Once Stafford comes back from his injury, he’s going to be the guy until the end of the season, and any talk about Stanton will cease.

Effectively, he will disappear.

If you ask Stanton about Stafford’s knee, he’ll say he hopes it heals up as soon as possible so he can get back on the field.

But Drew Stanton is a smart man. He knows that the amount of time remaining on Stafford’s injury is the amount of time he has to make a statement.

In the next few weeks, Stanton will hope to show someone he’s good enough to play football for a living.

If he can’t, his next job will be magician, as he vanishes from the NFL.