The Detroit Lions are expected to start undrafted rookie David Blough at quarterback on Thanksgiving due to injuries to Jeff Driskel and Matthew Stafford, a source told ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler.
The Lions acquired Blough at the league’s cutdown deadline after the preseason in a trade with Cleveland. They’ve kept him on the roster all season as a third quarterback but he has yet to play a snap.
Now he’ll start.
Blough’s opportunity came because Driskel, who has started in place of Stafford, has been dealing with a hamstring injury suffered against Washington on Sunday. Driskel said Tuesday that the hamstring has “gotten better” day by day, but apparently not enough to start. In his two media sessions this week, Lions head coach Matt Patricia said if need be, Driskel could stay in the pocket more, although that would take away the mobility part of his game.
In preparation for this, the Lions have been giving Blough first team reps during Detroit’s two walkthroughs this week.
“We’ll have competitive periods against offense versus defense, along with our preparation periods that we use each week,” Patricia said. “We like to take those different kind of chances during the week to mix up some of the huddles, and who is out there and who is not. We do it really at all positions, and certainly, Blough is one of those guys that it’s important for us to do that with too.”
Blough will be the third starting quarterback for the Lions in a month after having Stafford start every game since the end of the 2010 season.
Blough was Purdue’s starting quarterback last season, throwing for 3,521 yards, 25 touchdowns and eight interceptions.