It’s an age old question when a team selects a quarterback high in the first round of the NFL Draft. Do the Detroit Lions take it slow and give rookie quarterback Matthew Stafford the Carson Palmer treatment (sit him out a complete year and let him watch and learn from the sidline). Or due to the success that Matt Ryan and Joe Flacco had a season ago, do the Lions throw Stafford into the fire and let him learn on the fly and hope for big things from him as a rookie? With Daunte Culpepper on the roster, the Lions can afford to let him sit out and learn from the sidelines, but is it the right thing to do?

Plenty of coaches and so called experts say that playing a rookie quarterback when he’s not ready can stunt his growth and ruin him and his chances of becoming a great player because the confidence they once had in themselves are shot. Peyton Manning is one of the rare exceptions to the rules. He started as a rookie and played terribly, but he was able to have a pretty nice career. Only Matthew Stafford controls when Matthew Stafford will be ready to play and if the coaching staff feels he can handle it, look for him to be the starter on opening day.