Deal, costing Rams two first-round draft picks, brings swift end to Goff’s once-shining career in L.A.
The Rams wanted a new quarterback. And they wanted him now. They got him Saturday night, moving quickly and aggressively to replace Jared Goff with Matthew Stafford as the Rams and Detroit Lions agreed to swap quarterbacks in a trade that also costs L.A. its 2022 and 2023 first-round draft picks and this year’s third-rounder. The trade, first reported by ESPN’s Adam Schefter, won’t become official until the NFL’s new league year begins March 17. But it’s done, bringing a swift end to the intrigue surrounding Goff and coach Sean McVay that began when the fifth-year starting quarterback broke his passing thumb in the second to last game of the regular season. If the speed of it all is stunning, the roll of the dice by Rams general manager Les Snead is characteristic of a front office that now has traded away every first-round draft pick from 2017 to 2023 in moves meant to bring victories now. The Rams get Stafford,33 on Feb.7, the 2009 first overall draft pick from Georgia who has piled up huge passing numbers but has gone 0-3 in playoff games with Lions teams that have usually been undermanned in his 12 years. The Lions get Goff,26, the 2016 No.1 draft pick from Cal who looked like a star in quarterbacking the Rams to the NFC championship in the 2018 season but fell out of favor in an up-and-down 2020. Since Stafford had requested a trade, and McVay and Snead sounded intent on moving on from Goff, the deal was a case of mutual problem solving by front offices that know each other well since Lions GM Brad Holmes was recently hired away from his longtime role as Rams college scouting director.
