Stafford / Goff Trade Review
Late yesterday, the Detroit Lions and Los Angeles Rams struck a trade to swap quarterbacks. While the Rams are without any first round picks in the 2021 NFL Draft, they did however look far into the future to acquire Stafford. Sean McVay, an offensive mastermind, seemed to have run into a wall with Goff and was likely pushing to use the leverage of the relationship between the two clubs to make this kind of a trade.
Jared Goff signed an extension recently, which was due to kick in this season, and is likely why the Rams had to cough up 2 first round picks for the Lions to take on that kind of a contract, which was 4 years, $134M with $110M guaranteed (Spotrac.com).
The Rams on the other hand are taking on the back end of Stafford’s latest contract extension of $135M.
Stafford, who turns 33 this year, was not just coveted by the Rams, but other suitors had interest like the Colts, 49ers, and the Washington Football Team, who released Dwayne Haskins, former first round pick in 2019.
The Colts were hard pressed considering the retirement of Andrew Luck, then to sign Phillip Rivers 2 years later and play out a 1 year deal reaching the playoffs. Rivers retired after the 2020 season.
San Francisco is an interesting case for interest in Stafford because they traded for Jimmy Garappolo just 2 years ago, and signed him to a nice extension as their quarterback of the future. It’s likely that John Lynch and Kyle Shanahan are ready to move on from the oft injured QB considering they have most of the pieces in place to be a contending team.
Stafford has a stellar career as a QB for the Lions, setting nearly every passing record there is for the franchise, but the franchise itself was seeing its 3rd straight season with 10 or more losses. The Lions currently hold the 7th pick in the 2021 NFL Draft, which can now be freed up for addressing other areas of need like offensive line or defensive line.
Obviously, Stafford is likely to be grinning from ear to ear in this trade due to getting out of a bad situation. Goff on the other hand, has to look at this as a new start and show that he can be a leader for this Lions team that seems to have a bit of dismay about them. They are a young group of guys and they need a young leader to step in and bring some fire.
| Category | Jared Goff | Matthew Stafford | Advantage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Age | 26 | 33 | Goff |
| Record | 42-27 | 79-90-1 | Goff |
| QBR | 100.8 | 96.6 | Stafford |
| Completion % | 63.4 | 62.6 | Stafford |
| Experience | 5 Seasons | 12 Seasons | Goff |
| Health | B+ | B | Goff |
| Leadership | Team Captain | Team Captain | Null |
| Contract | 4 Year/134M 110M G | 5 Year/135M 92M G | Stafford |
| Intangibles | 2x Pro Bowler, 1 SB Appearance | 1x Pro Bowler | Goff |
In short, the Lions got the better end of this deal. The only negative the Lions have in this trade is taking on Jared Goff’s new deal, but, with Stafford’s deal almost equivalent to Goff’s, the Lions are in a good position with a young QB with experience and a Superbowl appearance.
As more information comes out from the two parties involved, this is going to set up the Deshaun Watson market to be expensive and aggressive. Ill talk about that in another article, but for this trade I think the Lions got the better end of the deal .
Thought and comments, leave below.
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