Culpepper Will Start on Saturday

Jim Schwartz let everyone know that Daunte Culpepper will be the team's starting quarterback for the first preseason game. The Detroit Free Press reports:

Lions coach Jim Schwartz announced today the quarterback rotation for Saturday’s exhibition opener against Atlanta. Daunte Culpepper will start. Matthew Stafford likely will take over sometime in the second quarter, Drew Stanton likely sometime in the second half.

This doesn't mean much, right? It is only the first preseason game. Is this an indication that Culpepper may be the regular season starter? I guess that depends how both quarterbacks preform in the next four games. Since Schwartz did choose Culpepper to start tomorrow, I would have to say that he is winning the quarterback competition as of now.

Daunte Culpepper Can Be Great

According to the new offensive coordinator, Scott Linehan, we may see shades of the Culpepper that we all remember from his Minnesota days. How could you forget the days when Culpepper was on the cover of EA's Madden Football and those long bombs to Randy Moss? Linehan was his coordinator back then, so he should know what Culpepper can do. According to Linehan, via MLive:

"His energy and electricity is back," Linehan says. "I think that was his biggest challenge – get back to playing this game like a kid again. But now he has a certain amount of maturity that I think has become real positive for him."

Its words like this that make me think that Culpepper has some real potential this year. If this was Rod Marinalli talking, I wouldn't care, but its not. Its Linehan, who should know a lot about Culpepper and his talents. Here is the interview with Linehan, courtesy of MLive.

Friendly Competition

Its good to see some real quarterback competition entering training camp this year. Its been a while since we went into camp not knowing who the starter would be. Daunte Culpepper and Matt Stafford both have the potential to have a good season. The question is: who will start against the Saints in week one?

Culpepper has shown that he is dedicated to play in Detroit. He lost 30 pounds over the off season and is in the best condition that he has been in for a while. We saw that he could still air out the ball last season, but he looked a bit out of shape. With better conditioning, he may be closer to his old form. There is another major positive to his game this year that is being somewhat overlooked. He is being reunited with his old offensive coordinator from his Minnesota days. During his impressive days with Minnesota, he was throwing the ball to Randy Moss. Well, now he has Calvin Johnson. Culpepper will have time to learn the whole offense and may be able to create some serious chemistry with Megatron. If Culpepper starts, he may be able to put together a solid season.

On the other hand, there is the first overall pick in the draft who is worth $72 million dollars. Its Matthew Stafford, the best we've had since Bobby Layne, right? I don't know about that, but he is getting some pretty good reviews out of training camp. He may have the skill, but does he need a year to sit and learn. I mean, look at what happened to Joey Blueskies. He was just thrown to the wolves and that didn't turn out to well. It is very possible that Stafford is much better than Joey though. Harrington was not very good, even when he went to Miami and Atlanta. The next question is how can you sit the first pick of the NFL draft? Look at Matt Ryan and Joe Flacco from last year. They were both rookies who lead their respective teams to the playoffs. Matt Ryan's first pass in his pro career lead to a 70 yard touchdown. You should remember, it was against the Lions. But, Atlanta had a much better team than Detroit. I guess the bottom line is that Stafford seems to be impressing everyone, so he might just get a chance to start.

I would like to see Culpepper start off the season. Give him a few games and see what happens. If things start to go sour, then they can throw Stafford in there. This way they are giving Culpepper a legitimate chance to see if he still has any magic left while also allowing Stafford to ease into the NFL. He is only 21.