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Duane Burleson / Associated Press
The Los Angeles rams have signed a bragging rights deal with the Detroit Lions that will drop the first dominoes in this year’s quarterback carousel.
According to NFL Networks Tom Pelissero, the Rams send quarterback Jared Goff, their 2021 third pick, first round of 2022 and first round of 2023 to the Lions in exchange for quarterback Matthew Stafford. The agreement will only be official in the new league year.
Following the Rams’ loss to the Green Bay Packers in the playoffs of the 2020 playoffs, NFL Network’s Steve Wyche reported that a source told him that Goff and head coach Sean McVay needed ‘marriage counseling’.
Mcvay and general manager Les Snead was not actually about Goff as their starter for the 2021 season. Now we see why they would not attach the immediate future of the team to him.
Goff seems to have reached his peak when he threw 4,688 yards, 32 touchdowns and 12 interceptions during the 2018 season. During the past two campaigns, he has scored 42 touchdowns and 29 interceptions.
The Rams decided to turn for Stafford, who has been plagued with injuries the past two terms, although he can still throw the ball all over the field and move a little more than Goff into the pocket.
Let’s look at the biggest winners and losers of the deal.
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Matthew StaffordBen Margot / Associated Press
Matthew Stafford must feel relieved. Last week, he and the Lions agreed to separate ways, which opened discussions for a trade, per Pelissero.
The Lions moved quickly, and Stafford gets a one-way ticket after 12 seasons with a franchise that has not won a playoff game since 1992. Although he has undertaken three post-seasons with the club, Detroit has yet to have a full team around him.
Stafford mostly had to put the offense on his shoulders. He played with only one 1,000-yard caterpillar – Reggie Bush in 2013 – and one defensive unit that was in the top-10 he achieved.
Stafford will join a club that has achieved a play-off chair under McVay in three of the four seasons, which has also hosted a top-10 attack in three campaigns. In 2020, the Rams will end up with the top defense under former defense coordinator Brandon Staley, who took over as head coach of the Los Angeles Chargers earlier this month.
Still, with two star defenders in cornerback Jalen Ramsey and defensive tackle Aaron Donald, Stafford probably need not score more than 30 points to win games. He gets a complementary hurried attack and a decent defense.
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Jared GoffAssociated Press
In Los Angeles, the wheels quickly fall off the Jared Goff train. Two years after a Super Bowl appearance, the Rams severed ties with him after consecutive inconsistent seasons.
In 2020, Goff threw for 20 touches and 13 interceptions. In December, he broke his right thumb and sat out of the team’s week 17 game against the Arizona Cardinals. John Wolford starts and leads the Rams to a victory.
Although Goff was beaten to play against the Seattle Seahawks in the Wild Card Round, McVay decided to start Wolford, who came down early in the game with a neck injury. Los Angeles won the game, but some questioned why Goff was not healthy enough to adapt the game.
The Rams predicted their decision to flip Goff’s tenure as the starting quarterback. Now he’s going to a franchise that’s in rebuild mode. This season, the Lions hired general manager Brad Holmes and head coach Dan Campbell to take over for Bob Quinn and Matt Patricia, respectively.
Goff will try to reinvent himself under a first-year full-time head coach with a franchise that has not had a playoff game in nearly three decades.
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Detroit Lions Owner Sheila Ford HampPaul Sancya / Associated Press
Brad Holmes rose through the ranks with the Rams organization, pushing him from a reconnaissance assistant to the director of the university’s reconnaissance. He signed a five-year contract with the Lions to oversee what looks like a rebuild.
Holmes is familiar with Goff, who led the Rams in 2016 with the overall no. 1 selected. He will also get premium concepts to revamp the roster in the coming year.
The Lions had an aging quarterback with two years left for a good time. In 2022 and 2023, Detroit will have two first-round picks, and Holmes could use the draft capital to fill or pack gaps in the roster to move up for a quarter of an hour.
In the 2021 campaign, the Lions have a solid placeholder at quarterback in Goff. If he is not the man, let the front office change the future concept choices of course. After the 2022 campaign, Detroit could release Goff and save $ 23.9 million, per Over the Cap.
If the Lions choose early concepts, the franchise could turn positive in the coming years. More importantly, Detroit has flexibility because of the compensation he received for Stafford.
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San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle ShanahanRoss D. Franklin / Associated Press
The San Francisco 49ers lost twice as a result of this blockbuster deal.
To begin with, the 49ers believe interest in Stafford, according to Matt Maiocco of NBC Sports, and Chris Simms, an NFL analyst, believed that the veteran full-back in the system of head coach Kyle Shanahan (h / t Maiocco) would do well sail.
“Him offended by Kyle Shanahan, just to be completely genuine and honest about it, yes, I think Kyle can help him a little bit to get away from the mistakes,” Simms said. “This can be a very dangerous offense.”
In 2020, 49ers full-back Jimmy Garoppolo struggled with an ankle injury and six games. He threw in seven passes and five interceptions, so we should not be surprised at the willingness of the team to find an upgrade at the position.
The 49ers missed Stafford and they will see him in the division twice a year as the Rams’ starting quarterback.
San Francisco may have a chance at a quarter as Deshaun Watson if the Houston Texans decide to trade him, but it could be a much higher price now that the market is set, leading us to our final winner.
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Houston Texans fullback Deshaun WatsonEric Christian Smith / Associated Press
The Lions traded 32-year-old Matthew Stafford, whose looming split with the team became public. Yet Detroit was able to earn a third round and two firsts for him.
Deshaun Watson requested a trade before Houston Texans appointed David Culley, head coach, via ESPNs Adam Schefter. But Texas’s new general manager Nick Caserio does not want to move ESPs to Watson Sarah Barshop.
Nevertheless, he could potentially increase a massive deal for a dynamic 25-year-old quarterback. In 2020, the Texans quarterback recorded a leading 4,823 passing yards with 33 touchdowns and seven interceptions in a 4-12 group.
Watson has helped lead the Texans to the playoffs in two of the past three seasons. He is also a three-time Pro Bowler. Stafford has won the award only once in 12 campaigns.
The Texans will receive many offers for Watson this off-season. With the Lions package for Stafford, Houston can make the foreland for their disgruntled signal caller. Caserio can easily trade in three firsts and an appetizer in exchange for his franchise player.