The Facts:
Jim Caldwell watched Peyton Manning make his notorious audible signals for years in Indianapolis, and new Lions offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi listened to Drew Brees "kill" plays constantly at the line of scrimmage in the past seven seasons in New Orleans. Now that both men work with Stafford, the plan appears to be to give their young but inconsistent signal-caller more autonomy before the snap. "A lot of it's built in as far as the kills, the checks, all the alerts," Stafford said. "But there's some freedom for sure to change routes and do things like that."
Reported by NFL.com
Fantasy Football Diehards Line:
While Stafford had some ability to make adjustments in the past, the new staff wants the quarterback to be more prolific in exploiting mismatches with Calvin Johnson, Golden Tate or Reggie Bush. Caldwell said he will "certainly" encourage Stafford to take more control at the line. "It obviously kind of gives you the chalk last," Stafford said. "And that's what you're looking for when you play quarterback. ..." Meanwhile, with the Lions focused on fixing Stafford's footwork and mechanics, Caldwell has added a "ladder cam" at practice, which exclusively films what the quarterback sees during drills. Again, it sounds like the Lions will be pulling out all the stops to get the most out of Stafford. That shouldn't lost on fantasy football owners.
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