Matt Stafford's Shocking Statement: 'I Would Love to Go to Detroit'

Given the way the Detroit Lions have played this decade, you'd think an NFL player would want to wear the Honolulu Blue and Silver about as much as he'd want to tear his ACL. But Georgia quarterback Matthew Stafford says he wants the Lions to draft him -- and not just because of the financial benefits of going first overall.

Talking to Sports Illustrated (via the Detroit Free Press), Stafford said he thinks Detroit is the perfect place for him to start his NFL career:

"I'm being completely honest, and it has nothing to do with money-I would love to go to Detroit," Stafford said in the Sports Illustrated story. "My friends say, 'C'mon, gimme a break.' But I'm a competitive guy. The Lions have passionate fans, a great stadium, and I'd be throwing to the biggest freak (Calvin Johnson), with the most talent, of any receiver in the NFL."

I love the fact that Stafford's buddies can't believe he's serious when he says he'd like to play for the Lions.

But as for his reasoning for wanting to play in Detroit, it actually does make sense, to a point: They do have great fans (do you realize they sold out every game while Matt Millen was team president?), Ford Field is a nice stadium, and Calvin Johnson is a stud.

The problem, of course, is that the rest of the roster after Johnson is so depleted of talent that unless new coach Jim Schwartz is a miracle worker, whatever quarterback ends up there is being set up to fail. If Stafford really wants to go to Detroit, I hope he's ready for a rough rookie year.