It’s finally done. The respective eras of Matthew Stafford and Jared Goff with the Lions and Rams have come to an end as each team struck a deal to swap the signal-callers in the first major NFL blockbuster of the year.
According to ESPN, the Lions will deal their veteran QB and former first overall draft pick from 2009 to the Rams for another former first overall pick (2016) in Goff plus a multitude of draft picks. Those picks include Detroit receiving a third-round pick in 2021, a first-round pick in 2022, and a first-round pick in 2023 with the deal having yet to become official until the new league year starts on March 17.
The move becomes the first for new Lions GM Brad Holmes who was able to squeeze the multitude of picks from his former team who will now not have a first-round pick until 2024. The move also signals a potentially long-term rebuild for the Lions who receive the two-first round picks in 2022 and 2023 consecutively coupled with the earlier six-year deal for new head coach Dan Campbell.
For Goff, the 27-year-old will get a fresh start with the Lions after a falling out with Rams head coach Sean McVay in 2020. Likewise, the remaining four years left on Goff’s contract and his acquisition by the Lions doesn’t necessarily mean Detroit still won’t take a QB in this upcoming draft. It would still seem plausible the Lions take a quarterback with their first-round pick this season, however, given Goff’s age and contract status he does give the Lions plenty of options when it comes to whether they take a QB this season or next. Furthermore, Goff spoke with ESPN’s Jeff Darlington just after the trade was made and reiterated a call he had with Dan Campbell saying that the QB was in Detroit’s “plans for the future”.
A source told ESPN the Lions had interest from seven or eight teams offering first-round picks as compensation for Stafford. Though the deal for Goff won’t necessarily preclude the Lions from taking a quarterback in this year’s draft, Goff told ESPN’s Jeff Darlington on Saturday night he spoke with Dan Campbell and that the new Lions coach made clear through his message Goff is in Detroit’s plans for the future.
ESPN
For the Rams, their Super Bowl odds went from +1800 to +1500 at Caesars Sportsbook by William Hill after news of the trade broke. They also get out from under what could’ve been an even more costly dead cap situation for them when it came to Goff’s deal. Instead, Los Angeles will take on the remaining two years and $43 million on Stafford’s contract and send the four years and $106.6M remaining on Goff’s contract to Detroit. Furthermore, the Lions will carry a $17.8 million dead cap hit in 2021 due to Stafford’s deal while the Rams will carry a $22.2 million dead cap hit in 2021 due to Goff’s deal which would’ve been almost tripled had they chose to cut the QB rather than trade him. According to Ian Rapoport, Detroit’s decision to take on Goff’s deal ended up costing the Rams more picks in the trade.
Meanwhile, the 32-year-old Stafford will leave the Lions as the team’s all-time leader in pretty much every major statistical QB category for the team including the most career passing yards (41,025), highest career completion percentage (62.48%), and most career passing touchdowns (256).
For Goff, he finishes a five-year stint in LA with 18,171 yards, 107 TD and 55 INT. 2018 would signal his best in the NFL which included his second Pro Bowl selection, a career-high in yardage (4,688), and a trip to Super Bowl LII against the Patriots after leading the Rams to a 13-3 record. Goff is also 42-27 in his 69 career starts.
The Lions and Rams are also scheduled to meet in 2021 from SoFi Stadium in what will surely be one of the must-see matchups next season.
