The Lions will definitely be bringing in competition over the off-season for 23-year old running back Kevin Smith.  Smith played in 13 games last season for the Lions and he carried the ball 217 times for 747 yards (3.4 ypc) wiht 4 TD runs.  He also caught 41 passes for 415 yards (10.1 avg) with 1 TD grab last year.  Smith was banged up all year for the Lions and he wasn’t that effective when he did play.  With that in mind I see Smith having to fight for his job in training camp this season.  Smith has now played in 29 games for the Lions and he has carried the ball 455 times for 1,723 yards (3.8 ypc) with 12 TD runs.  He also caught 80 passes for 701 yards (8.8 avg) with 1 TD grab in his career with the Lions.

21-year old Matt Stafford had his ups and downs as a rookie but I saw signs that he will be a impact player in the near future for the Lions.  He actually has a lot of the same skills as John Elway showed off as a youngster as he has a big arm and good mobility in the pocked and when running the ball.  Of course, it took a while for Elway to really gets things going in Denver and the Lions will need to get some offensive help for Stafford to reach his full potential.  He played in 10 games for the Lions this season and he completed 201 of 377 passes (53.3%) for 2,267 yards with 13 TD passes and 20 INTs (61.0 QB Rating).  Stafford also carried the ball 20 times for 108 yards (5.4 ypc) with 2 TD runs this year.  Look for the Lions to get more weapons at WR and RB for Stafford this off-season.

32-year old Daunte Culpepper wants to come back to the Lions next year but they should just say no.  Culpepper played in 8 games for the Lions this season and he completed 89 of 157 passes (56.7%) for 945 yards with 3 TD passes and 6 INTs (64.8 QB Rating).  He also carried the ball 18 times for 91 yards (5.1 ypc) this year.  Culpepper has now played in 105 games in his NFL career and he has completed 2,016 of 3,199 passes (63%) for 24,153 yards with 149 TD passes and 106 INTs (87.8 QB Rating).  Culpepper has also carried the ball 514 times for 2,652 yards (5.2 ypc) with 34 TD runs in his career.  Culpepper has proven to be a very below average QB without him having Randy Moss to catch all of his bad passes.

25-year old Drew Stanton proved with little doubt this year that he is not a NFL QB.  He played in 4 games for the Lions this season and he completed 26 of 51 passes (51%) for 259 yards with 0 TD passes and 6 INTs (26.1 QB Rating).  He also carried the ball 9 times for 33 yards (3.7 ypc) with 1 TD run this year.  Stanton has now played in 7 games in his career with the Lions and he has completed 35 of 68 passes (51.5%) for 378 yards with 1 TD pass and 6 INTs (36.3 QB Rating).  Stanton has also carried the ball 12 times for 53 yards (4.4 ypc) with 1 TD run.  Stanton was a local pick out of Michigan State but that doesn’t mean the Lions have to keep him around and watch him play like crap.

25-year old QB Drew Stanton is getting the start this week for the Lions and he is running out of time to show what he can do with them.  If he doesn’t play strong in the next game or two the Lions might cut him loose.  Stanton has played in 2 games this season for the Lions and he has completed 15 of 30 passes (50%) for 129 yards with 0 TD passes and 3 INTs (22.1 QB Rating).  He has also carried the ball 3 times for 10 yards (3.3 ypc) with 1 TD run.  Stanton has now played in 5 games in his career with the Lions and he has completed 24 of 47 passes (51.1%) for 248 yards with 1 TD pass and 3 INTs (47.1 QB Rating).  He has also carried the ball 6 times for 30 yards (5.0 ypc) with a TD run.  If the Lions are going to have a chance to beat the 49ers this week, Stanton will have to play well.

It will be up to Maurice Morris to replace Kevin Smith as the featured back in the offense the rest of the year.  Morris has carried the ball 42 times for 156 yards (3.7 ypc) with 1 TD carry.  He has also caught 12 passes for 105 yards (8.8 avg) this year.   Morris has never been the main man for a offense so rookie Aaron Brown will also likely see a increase in playing time.  Brown has carried the ball 21 times for 100 yards (4.8 ypc) and he also has caught 6 passes for 65 yards (10.8 avg) with a TD grab.  The Lions’ running game shouldn’t suffer too much as Kevin Smith wasn’t exactly tearing it up this season.

With rookie TE Brandon Pettigrew out for the season the Lions will need 29-year old Casey Fitzsimmons and 28-year old Will Heller to step up.  Fitzsimmons has played in 11 games this season for the Lions and he has caught 17 passes for 119 yards (7.0 avg).   He has now played in 98 games in his NFL career and he has caught 87 passes for 668 yards (7.7 avg) with 5 TD grabs.  Will Heller has played in 11 games for the Lions this season and he has caught 19 passes for 209 yards (11.0 avg) with 3 TD grabs.  He has now played in 79 games in his NFL career and he has caught 55 passes for 466 yards (8.5 avg) with 10 TD grabs.  While Fitzsimmons and Heller don’t have the speed to stretch the D like Pettigrew did they must be able to get open and catch the short stuff.  Matt Stafford needs the TEs to be his safety net when he gets in trouble.