While the Lions continue to sort through their quarterbacks – Daunte Culpepper appears to be the starter, Jon Kitna may be on his way out, and the Lions view Dan Orlovsky as a backup – one player who won't be in the starting mix next year is Drew Stanton.

“He's a developmental guy for us,” general manager Martin Mayhew said Friday of the 2007 second-round draft pick. “He missed the whole first season. He really was a rookie last year, but I think what we have to do at quarterback is have as many options as possible. And we have to have a situation that we feel comfortable with. And we just haven't seen enough of Drew to say we can anoint Drew as a starter. It's a tremendous leap of faith to say he can start for us.”

Mayhew said at one point he hoped to play Stanton more last year, but when listing the options for next season's starters he did not include Stanton in the mix.

“I think Drew can do everything,” Mayhew said. “He can run, he can throw, he has a strong arm. He's got all the tools. That's not an issue. The issue is getting him enough reps and enough time to where we feel comfortable with him being the guy at quarterback. It hasn't happened for a lot of reasons.”

Asked if he could have forced Stanton into the rotation last year, Mayhew said he “would never tell a head coach he has to play a guy.”

“I can make it known who I'd like to see play and I did that with a number of guys, and some of them played and some of them didn't,” Mayhew said. “And that's the way it is.”