Who Wins in the Jared Goff and Matthew Stafford Trade?

The NFL like many other salary capped leagues is always changing. The better players are the more money they demand, and at the end of the day it is up to players whether or not they want to sign with a team or not.

Those players do not control what happens to them when they are under a contract. Those decisions are made by the teams that the players who are a part of.

On the 30th of January it was reported that the Detroit Lions traded Quarterback Matthew Stafford for Los Angeles Rams Quarterback Jared Goff and three future first round draft picks. The trade makes sense for both teams in this situation.

The Rams are attempting to take advantage of their elite defense, led by Aaron Donald and Jalen Ramsey. That defense has been the cornerstone of the last four seasons and it led to three playoff berths and a Super Bowl appearance in 2018.

The one thing holding this team back has been their lackluster offense. According to profootballreference.com, during Super Bowl 53 the offense struggled hard against the New England Patriots’ defense only putting up 260 total yards of offense and only scoring a 3-point field goal.

The Rams’ defense held the patriots to 13 points and 407 yards of offense and kept the Rams in the game. That was until the Rams’ offense threw an interception that sealed the win for the Patriots.

Matthew Stafford is an incredibly talented quarterback who is often underrated due to the Detroit Lions’ failure to surround him with talent both on offense and defense.

There is no future for Stafford to remain in Detroit as the Lions are entering a deep rebuild after Firing Head Coach Matt Patricia near the end of the 2020 season. This would explain the 3 first round draft picks that the Lions got from the trade.

In Los Angeles Stafford would have the benefit of being surrounded with talents like receivers Cooper Kupp and Robert Woods. Combining that with the Rams’ elite defense could easily make them contenders in what could be a tough NFC west next season. They are going all in this season before the team runs out of cap (salary money) and has to send players away so that they do not go over the salary cap.

As for Jared Goff’s future in Detroit, well there is none. Goff peaked in 2018 and many fans just don’t see him returning to that elite form. Goff will just sit in Detroit as a placeholder until the Lions can find a new franchise quarterback and prepare for a championship push sometime in the distant future.

The NFL constantly changes like many other salary capped leagues and this year many players are going to move as we are reaching a transition period where many of the poster boys of the 2010s are planning to retire or are on the downside of their careers, and teams will be trying to find the successors to these long time franchise names.