MATTHEW STAFFORD
Position: Quarterback
Ht/Wt: 6-3, 226
College: Georgia
Experience: 9th season
Outlook: Stafford was having one of the best seasons of his career in 2016 before a finger injury on his throwing hand limited him down the stretch. Stafford still completed 65 percent of his passes for 4,327 yards with 24 touchdowns and 10 interceptions.
Stafford set an NFL record by engineering eight fourth-quarter comebacks. His 10 interceptions were the lowest in a season in which he played all 16 games.
In an effort to grow both on and off the field, Stafford enlisted the help of a quarterback coach this offseason. He said the time working out in California with the quarterback specialist helped him hone in on some little things he thinks will be beneficial to his game.
View photos of Matthew Stafford during the Detroit Lions training camp practice on Aug. 6, 2017.
He enters his second full season in offensive coordinator Jim Bob Cooter's system. Stafford came into camp in great shape, and if the Lions can protect him and give him some consistency in the run game, the expectations are for Stafford to have a very good 2017 season.
Practice report: Stafford was pretty sharp for the most part in Sunday's practice.
He hooked up with Golden Tate, Marvin Jones Jr. and some others for touchdowns in one-on-one red zone drills against the cornerbacks, but did miss on a few throws to Jared Abbrederis, TJ Jones and Tate that he took the blame for with a simple pat on his chest after missing them.
Stafford connected with tight end Khari Lee and receiver TJ Jones for touchdowns in a red zone 7-on-7 period.
Stafford's best throw of the day came in a team period later in practice. He placed a perfect pass just over cornerback Nevin Lawson's head, and Marvin Jones Jr. went up and got it for a touchdown right along the sideline.
Stafford's touch on those kind of passes has really looked good over the first weeks of training camp.
Quotable: "I put a ton of work in," Stafford said of his offseason. "Did some extra stuff maybe I hadn't done in the past. Put some work in with some people that I feel like I'm going to benefit from.
"I just want what's best for this team. I want what's best for me as a player. If I play well, our team's going to play well. It just goes into preparation and doing everything you possibly can."
