Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford was asked what he thinks the Lions should do in the first round of the draft during a Tuesday media session, but he kept his thoughts to himself.
Stafford said he won’t get into that because his job is to “go out there and play and try to play as high-level as I possibly can.” Stafford was willing to offer some advice on another topic, however.
Stafford was the first overall pick of the 2009 draft and went to a team that had gone 0-16 the previous year. It looks like the Browns, who also went 0-16, will be making a quarterback the first overall pick of this year’s draft, leaving the door open for Stafford to share what he’d tell a player in a position he knows well.
“I think that’s all you can do is just be yourself,” Stafford said, via the Detroit Free Press. “Just go in there, work hard, show those guys in that locker room what you’re about. And whatever it is you’re about, it’ll come out and they’ll either accept you or they won’t and then you go play.”
Stafford got to go play right off the bat for the Lions, something that may not be the case for prospective first overall picks Sam Darnold 0r Josh Allen with Tyrod Taylor already in Cleveland, and dealt with injuries for a couple of years before blossoming in Detroit. The Browns would surely prefer skipping the injuries, but would likely be happy with much of the rest of Stafford’s trajectory.