Matthew Stafford, the monumental trade in Detroit Lions, became official Thursday morning when he and Jared Goff performed for the first time in their new team’s facilities. After the trade officially appeared in the books, new details about the compensation were announced.
According to the NFL deal, the Lions will get the Rams’ first round in 2022, their first round in 2023, a third round in 2021 and Goff in exchange for Stafford. So much we already knew. However, the deal thread gave an important detail that was previously unknown: the choice of the third round that the Lions get for this year’s draft is a compensatory choice.
Many assumed the Lions would get the Rams’ original third-round pick – Pick 88 – in return, probably because the compensatory pick had not yet been announced when the deal was agreed. Since then, however, it has been revealed that the Rams will have two compensatory choices: Pick 101 and Pick 103.
At this stage it is not clear which of the two is going to get the Lions, but overall it is a downgrade of 13 or 15 places from what was originally believed. It’s a small price to pay, especially if the Rams do the Lions a favor by paying Goff’s $ 2.5 million roster bonus payable on Thursday, but it’s not an insignificant bonus.
Perhaps one of the most interesting things about this development is how the Rams got that compensatory choice. As a result of a new rule seeking to encourage more minority coaches and members of the minority management, they will receive a compensatory choice for the third round for two consecutive years if they lose a minority coach or manager as head coach or general manager. It is therefore quite possible that the Lions will get one of the compensatory choices the Rams got because they appointed Brad Holmes.