Matthew Stafford spent his entire NFL career trying to rebuild the Detroit Lions franchise – he needed an upgrade and he only got one. In great success, the Lions sent Stafford to the Los Angeles Rams in exchange for the Rams’ first rounds in 2022 and 2023, a third round in 2021, and quarterback Jared Goff, CBS Sports NFL Insider Jason La Canfora confirmed. Stafford moves from a Lions squad he struggled to reach in the post-season to a Rams squad led by coach Sean McVay that has advanced to at least the division round in one of the past three seasons and once the Super Bowl.
Stafford and the Lions agreed to separate earlier this week, while the team moved in a new direction under the new general manager, Brad Holmes (who until earlier this season was the Rams’ director of university reconnaissance) and the head coach , Dan Campbell. Stafford is on track for a clear-cut candidate in the Rams, who has had one of the best defenses in the NFL for several seasons and has previously been one of the league’s most explosive offenses over the past two years.
Stafford will work in an attacking system that was friendly to the backs, behind an attacking line that excels in pass protection, and with quality sleeping places in Robert Woods, Cooper Kupp, Tyler Higbee, Gerald Everett and Van Jefferson. Goff, meanwhile, will move to a rebuilding Lions team, and he may not be out for Detroit for long, given his contract situation.
The Rams signed Goff after a four-year, $ 130 million contract extension after his third NFL season, and will receive a significant death penalty in their books after entering into this agreement. Goff will count on LA’s books for $ 22.2 million in 2021 while playing for Detroit, while the Rams will spend the two years and $ 43 million on Stafford’s contract. Another comment about Stafford’s contract with the Rams comes from Ian Rapoport of NFL Network. The expectation is that Stafford will not require an extension of the contract as part of this agreement. He will play the remaining two years for $ 34 million on his contract with the Rams.
Similarly, Stafford will count $ 17.8 million on the Lions’ books in 2021, and Detroit will have the four years and $ 106.6 million left on Goff’s deal. However, it is important that there is no guaranteed money left on Goff’s contract, and the Lions will be able to move on from him after this season if they prefer.
The Rams will, after trading for Stafford, do seven consecutive seasons without making a first choice. They swapped their firsts of 2016 and 2017 to move up in the 2016 draft for Goff. They traded their 2018 first for wide receiver Brandin Cooks, their first first round for the Hawks for the second and third rounds, and their first round for 2020 and 2021 for the Jaguars for Jalen Ramsey. Stafford is therefore better off worth the prize as the Rams continued to pledge their future to achieve short-term success.
Stafford – who spent a decade in Detroit and excelled as the Lions’ leading leader in completed tractors (3,898) (45,109), passes (282) and quarterback victories (74) – took the franchise to three playoffs. in his tenure, but the team could not win a playoff game, and it was 0-3. The Rams will count on him to achieve much greater success in LA than in Detroit. They have the rankings to set him up for that success, after reaching the playoffs under Sean McVay in three of four seasons and advancing to the Super Bowl in 2018 before finally falling to the New England Patriots.
Goff’s struggles over the past two seasons have led to the team taking a step backwards, missing the play-offs in 2019 and then being knocked out in the first round in 2020. The relapse sparked interest in finding a way to move on and upgrade from Goff, which they accomplished with this trade.
For Goff, it is an immoral end to his tenure with the Rams. He struggled badly in 2019 and parts of 2020 and was not named as the starter for the team’s wild card game, although he felt he was healthy enough to play a few weeks after breaking his thumb. Goff eventually entered the game due to an injury to starter John Wolford, leading the team to a victory over rival Seahawks, but could not do so next week with another successor over Green Bay Packers do not.
Now, just two seasons after taking his team to the Super Bowl, he was swapped and saw his team pay a significant premium to get someone else in the middle. He has the chance to re-establish himself in Detroit under Campbell and the new attacking coordinator Anthony Lynn, but if the team clearly enters the early stages of a rebuild and his contract a heavy contract, he will have to take an important step . forward to carve a place in the team’s long-term plans. Otherwise, he could find himself on the open market next year.