Matthew Stafford cleared after last year’s back injury

[Roary]

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The Lions won’t have anything resembling a normal offseason — like the rest of the league — but they’d have had their quarterback on hand if they did.

Via Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press, Lions General Manager Bob Quinn said that quarterback Matthew Stafford was recovered from last year’s back injury, and would be a full participant in whatever degree of offseason workouts they have.

“Health wise, he’s good to go,” Quinn said. “He’s cleared medically from that standpoint.”

Stafford missed the last eight games of last year with a fracture in his back, but his wife said on social media that it was “completely healed” in January.

Prior to the injury, he was playing as well as any quarterback in the league, with 2,499 yards, 19 touchdowns and just five interceptions in the first half of the year.

While there was some chatter about the Lions talking to quarterback prospects, they’re able to use that kind of talk as leverage if they want to move down because they have that spot filled.