Detroit Lions receiver Nate Burleson believes his teammate Matthew Stafford has the strongest arm in the league. That arm may just be getting stronger.
"My teammates and I have been talking about it. He's getting stronger. People don't realize last year was his healing-up year from the shoulder surgery," Burleson told ATL this week from Broadcast Boot Camp. "Imagine this year after a whole summer of working out (at) full strength and a season under his belt. He couldn't work out last year. Just imagine ..."
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At that point Burleson drifted off for a moment in reverie while shaking his head. He knows all about big arms. Stafford reminds Burleson of his ex-teammate Daunte Culpepper in that department.
"Just a rocket. An absolute gun. Daunte broke my finger, man. I remember I was going in motion one time and I slapped Daunte on the butt super hard," Burleson said. "Everybody could hear it and he didn't like that stuff. (Note: Who does?) And the ball was coming to me. He turned around and threw the ball so hard at me.
"I yelled 'This is all you got?' But my hands were stinging like crazy. I did the same thing to Stafford. Said, 'C'mon, let's see what you got!' I was running a crossing route and he whipped it. And you could hear it whistling through the air. And that's when I knew Stafford had the same skill set as Daunte."
Burleson said Stafford has "moxie" like one of those Texas high school quarterbacks from football movies that walk around with a swagger because they can make every throw.
We'd argue that Stafford already has the strongest pure arm in the league. If Burleson is right, and Stafford gets stronger this year, there won't be any doubt.
