The good: Matthew Stafford ranked in the top 10 in the NFL in yards (4,327), completion percentage (65.3) and TD-to-interception ratio (24-10). Then, there were those eight fourth-quarter comebacks he led, the most in NFL history.

Detroit trailed in the fourth quarter 15 times during the regular season, yet still found a way to win eight of those contests (they never trailed in a win over New Orleans) to qualify for the playoffs.

Let's also not forget that the Lions didn't have a running back among the top 50 rushers in the league. Detroit was also third in the league in dropped passes, with 28. Add those two factors in, and Stafford's season looks even more impressive.

Stafford was mentioned among a handful of MVP candidates after guiding the Lions to a 9-4 record to start the season, but a finger injury, coupled with a tough stretch of games to finish the season, ended that talk.

The bad: Stafford hit his finger on the hand of Bears rookie linebacker Leonard Floyd during the second series of a Week 14 win over Chicago, and suffered an injury to the top of the middle finger on his throwing hand. The injury required Stafford to wear a splint and a glove the rest of the season, though he didn't miss a single snap.

After the injury, his completion percentage dipped from 67.2 percent to 59.6 percent. He tossed just five interceptions over his first 12 games, but had five over his last five.

After posting a QB rating of 100.5 in his first 12 games, Stafford topped 80 just once in his final five games, and finished the last five games at 74.4.

Not once, though, did Stafford ever use the injury as an excuse.

Detroit also faced four playoff teams over that final five-game stretch (including the Wild Card game in Seattle), but the injury no-doubt played some factor in Stafford's dip in performance.

Key stat: Stafford ran the ball 27 times this season (not including sacks), which was tied with Dallas' Dak Prescott for the eighth-most attempts among quarterbacks, according to Pro Football Focus statistics.

Stafford recorded a first down when he ran the ball over 40 percent of the time, and his 207 total rushing yards in 2016 were a career high.

He used his legs as a weapon much more often this season.

Free agents: Backup quarterback Dan Orlovsky is an unrestricted free agent.

It will be interesting to see what the Lions decide to do at the backup quarterback position with Jake Rudock waiting in the wings. The Lions drafted Rudock in the sixth round last year, and signed him to the 53-man roster Nov. 23 to keep him from signing with another team while on the practice squad.

Draft: Lions GM Bob Quinn has said in the past that it's smart to draft a quarterback at least every other year, if not every year, as a solid business practice in the NFL.

The Lions have other needs they have to address first, and don't appear to be in the market for a quarterback the first two days of the draft, but if the value fits the draft slot later on, Quinn has shown he's willing to select talent at the position to develop and potentially use as an asset down the road.

MVP: Stafford is the biggest reason the Lions won nine games this season. He's not only the most valuable player for Detroit's offense this season, he was the most valuable player on the entire roster in 2016.

Quotable: "Matthew had a good year," Quinn said. "Matthew, it's his second season with Coach (Jim Bob) Cooter as the coordinator, so I think that relationship grew.

"I think Matthew got better over the first eight to 10 weeks, then he suffered the injury with the finger, which maybe affected him to a degree. But I think he had a really good year. Happy that he's our quarterback."