Detroit columnist: Lions ‘must' pull off Brady-for-Stafford trade

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Give this Detroit Free Press columnist credit for creativity.

Carlos Monarrez writes that once the Lions' hiring of Patriots defensive coordinator Matt Patricia as Detroit's head coach is official, after Sunday when "the Patriots will beat the Eagles", the time is right to bring Tom Brady back to Michigan. 

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Here's more from Monarrez's piece:

As soon as Patricia is hired, he and general manager Bob Quinn should immediately begin plans to trade Matthew Stafford to the Patriots in exchange for Tom Brady.

All right, all right. Settle down.

[Former Patriots personnel man] Quinn knows [Bill] Belichick, his old boss, really well. Trading Brady would be enormously unpopular in New England. So Quinn would have to offer Belichick something he couldn’t refuse: immediate help and hope for the future. That would come in the form of Stafford, both a first- and second-round draft pick, and probably a high-caliber player like Glover Quin or T.J. Lang.

Enormously unpopular, you say? Think so? Stafford turns 30 this week and, statistically, is indeed one of the NFL's top QBs. He also brings with him the remainder of a five-year, $135 million contract extension he signed this past summer. Lang, 30, is a two-time Pro Bowl guard who spent his first seven seasons in Green Bay. Quin, 32, is a corner who led the NFL in interceptions in 2014. Plus the picks? Yeah, that'll go over well. Monarrez cites ESPN's Seth Wickersham's story from last month that suggested the Robert Kraft-Brady-Belichick trio is primed for a breakup as the reason for the Lions to act now:  

If you believe in the discord happening in New England, this is the very small window anyone has to finally break up the Patriots’ dynasty. And the Lions, with Quinn and Patricia, would be the team best suited for making that happen.

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Of course, the biggest reason for the suggested trade may lie in a story Monarrez wrote earlier this week that began: 

I hate the New England Patriots. You hate the New England Patriots. Unless you live in Boston or you’re a front-runner and a fan of cheating, you hate the New England Patriots, too.

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