Matthew Stafford has a broken back. Jeff Driskel has a hamstring injury. David Blough is the only healthy quarterback on the roster, and he’s an undrafted rookie who has never taken an NFL snap.
What happens if Driskel can’t play and Blough gets hurt in the Thanksgiving game against the Chicago Bears?
The obvious answer is tight end Logan Thomas, who was a collegiate QB at Virginia Tech and even competed as a quarterback at the 2014 Senior Bowl. Lions coach Matt Patricia was asked about Thomas’ possible emergency role in his press conference.
“We have a couple emergencies out there just in case,” Patricia said Tuesday. “We always do that anyway. Just when you activate only two for the game, just in general, you make sure that you always kind of have a third in mind from that standpoint… Obviously Logan with his background, is a pretty good possibility in there too from that standpoint. But really you do that on game days just in general in case something happens.”
Thomas posted one of the craziest stat lines in NFL history during his (very brief) time as a quarterback for the Cardinals back in 2014. He completed 1-of-8 passes for 81 yards and a TD. Thomas was also sacked twice in the 41-20 loss to the Broncos. He did complete his one pass attempt in 2018 as a Buffalo Bill on a gadget play. That’s his entire NFL passing log.
In college, he was a dual-threat QB with a huge arm but not a lot of accuracy. Thomas completed just 55.5 percent of his passes in his three years as a starter for the Hokies, tossing 52 TDs and 39 INTs.
Here’s hoping the Lions don’t have to break that emergency glass open…