Matthew Stafford Discusses Future with Lions: 'I'll Figure That Out'

The Detroit Lions parted ways with head coach Matt Patricia last week, but the changes might not end there after their franchise quarterback was noncommittal about his future with the team.

"As far as my future goes past the season, I'll figure that out and talk about that later on," Stafford said, per Rod Beard of the Detroit News. "I've got a lot of work to be done. ... There's a lot to a lot to be done here for the rest of the season." 

Stafford will hit free agency in 2023 at the end of the five-year, $135 million deal he signed in 2017, which made him the league's highest-paid player at the time. 

If the Lions elect to part ways with Stafford at the end of this season, the team would take a $19 million dead hit on the salary cap, per Peter Botte of the New York Post. 

After team owner Sheila Ford Hamp fired Patricia and general manager Bob Quinn, she did not comment on Stafford's future with the Lions but called him an "extremely talented young man," according to Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press.

"Well, since I'm not the coach, I'm probably not the right person to ask that question to," she said. "We'll see what the new coach has to say." 

Through 12 seasons in Detroit, Stafford has amassed multiple NFL records, but it seems as though his best days may be behind him. He started every game for Detroit from 2011 to '18 but was moved to injured reserve after missing six games with non-displaced fractures in his spine in 2019. 

This season, he has led the Lions to a 4-7 record, throwing for 2,876 yards and 18 touchdowns while being picked off eight times and sacked 31 times.

The Lions would hold the ninth pick in next year's draft if the season ended today, at which point the NCAA's top quarterbacks (Clemson's Trevor Lawrence and Ohio State's Justin Fields) won't be around. So to find a replacement for Stafford, they'll need to consider taking a lower-rated QB prospect or trading Stafford for a veteran.