Matthew Stafford has played some of his best football lately, and the quarterback can follow his first MVP campaign by leading a stacked Los Angeles Rams squad to another deep playoff run. That led an ESPN analyst to consider Stafford's standing among the game's greatest passers. The Rams cemented their status as a Super Bowl favorite by bringing Aaron Donald out of retirement.
Dan Orlovsky discussed how the superstar pass rusher can help elevate Stafford into an all-time great by helping the quarterback win his second championship. In Orlovsky's eyes, another ring would place Stafford in the discussion among the best signal-callers in NFL history. "Think about the impact that this move can not only have on Aaron Donald, but other people's legacies," Orlovsky said Monday on Get Up, via Awful Announcing.
"Matthew Stafford gets another one. He has an MVP in his back pocket. He becomes (part of the) top-five, top-seven quarterback conversation." In Orlovsky's defense, Stafford climbed up to sixth in all-time passing yards (64,516) last season and is three touchdowns away from passing Philip Rivers for sixth on the all-time touchdowns leaderboard.
Maybe it's not as scorching-hot of a take as some critics believe. Then again, Stafford was rarely considered a top-five current quarterback throughout his 12 seasons with the Detroit Lions. It's awfully difficult to rank him above any of Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, Peyton Manning, Drew Brees, Joe Montana, Patrick Mahomes, Brett Favre, John Elway, and Johnny Unitas.
Another Super Bowl should at least solidify Stafford as a clear Hall of Famer, especially if he keeps playing at an MVP-caliber level.
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