Here's the excerpt on Stafford from ESPN's QB Tier Rankings:
T-12. Matthew Stafford | Detroit Lions
Average rating: 2.17 | Change in rating: +8.9%
2014 Rank: 13
Stafford was the lowest-rated player to command a top-tier vote, but there were also eight third-tier grades from voters frustrated by the lingering gap between Stafford's physical gifts and his on-field performance. The two voters to give Stafford a 1 ranked first and seventh among easiest graders overall.
"No doubt, he is a 2 and I love him, but something is missing," a different offensive coach said. "Stafford could be like Aaron Rodgers if he had the burning passion and if he had Mike McCarthy from Day 1, because he is talented like that and quick with the ball. But you look at the look on Stafford's face before the game and then look at Rodgers' face or Big Ben's face or Luck's or especially Drew Brees' face or Philip Rivers' face. Holy s---, you look at Matthew Stafford's eyes and it's like gym class. It's like, 'I hope we win, I think we are pretty good' as opposed to, 'I am going to rip your throat out.' It is always the want-to and passion and desire that separates guys. Stafford should be there with Big Ben. Rivers is OK physically, but does it all by heart and leadership."
A GM touched on the same theme.
"Stafford is ahead of Andy Dalton and Alex Smith because he is more gifted, but there is an element where he is either about to become a 2 or he can fall into the Cutler category, not because of intangibles necessarily but because there is something missing. Even at Georgia, [in 2008] they had Stafford, they had Knowshon Moreno and A.J. Green. They were ranked No. 1 in the nation, and they finished with three losses. To me, that just defines things. You are in college football, you are a franchise QB, you have a really good college running back, an up-and-coming receiver and for whatever reason you could not lead your team to be ahead at the end of the big games."
The perception is that Stafford must discipline himself to be great. A personnel director said he'd rather have Flacco or Ryan.
"Stafford has a little of what Cutler has got," this director said. "He has mechanical things. He will throw it up for grabs. He is a 2. I don't know if he has internally what Flacco and Ryan have in terms of the will to be special. I see those guys working on their mechanics, which is huge for guys like Peyton and Brady. Stafford's mechanics have not changed."
