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The Detroit Lions were reportedly motivated to trade Matthew Stafford before the Super Bowl with Josina Anderson tweeting on Saturday morning that the team was hoping a “sucker” would “overpay.”
Agree that they are a “sucker” or not, the LA Rams came away with Stafford by Saturday evening, trading two firsts, a third, and Jared Goff in exchange for the veteran quarterback. Peter Schrager, who worked closely with the Rams in 2020 and had a weekly podcast with Sean McVay, said that the head coach “fell in love with Stafford” (clearly) and that he is “over the moon” that the front office managed to acquire him.
There are really fun details to how, why, and when this Rams-Lions trade went down.
— Peter Schrager (@PSchrags) January 31, 2021
McVay fell in love with Stafford. That’s what you need to know when you start analyzing picks and compensation and whatever else. McVay zeroed in and the front office made sure he got his guy.
McVay is over the moon. Got his guy.
— Peter Schrager (@PSchrags) January 31, 2021
Rams have shown they don’t worry about first round picks and fret over that like other teams.
Lot of bad teams have had a lot of first round picks. Lot of good teams have had first round picks and are in salary cap hell. Rams go all in.
Similarly, Anderson reported that a league source told her that an offer by the Washington Football Team for Stafford “was better,” though that is merely a matter of opinion from how it reads. In any case, the Lions did give up Stafford without receiving a 2021 first or second round pick in return. Presumably, most any other team in the league could have offered a 2021 first or second round pick in any package for Stafford.
League source gives opinion on #Lions decision to take the #Rams deal for Matthew Stafford: "The Rams were screwed with a bad contract on (Jared) Goff and the #Lions helped them and don't even get a good pick this year. The Washington offer was better."
— IG: JosinaAnderson (@JosinaAnderson) January 31, 2021
Per Schrager, Stafford was also eager to play for McVay, which may have played into Detroit’s decision to send him to his preferred destination. The Lions will be taking on considerable cap considerations and future roster bonuses in acquiring Goff, another significant boon to what LA managed to do in this trade. But new Lions general manager Brad Holmes, formerly of the Rams front office until recently, may have also been motivated to maintain a healthy relationship with such an aggressive organization.
More details trickling in...
— Peter Schrager (@PSchrags) January 31, 2021
Stafford wanted to play for McVay and be in LA. Lions did him right in the end. There were other offers. Very good ones, too.
Detroit and Rams front offices both knew that this was the trade that made all parties happiest— teams, player, coach.
Text from league source on the #Lions trade talks for QB Matthew Stafford: "I’m sure they'll get a trade, but right now they're looking for a sucker to overpay."
— IG: JosinaAnderson (@JosinaAnderson) January 30, 2021
In any case, it appears that the Rams got the QB they wanted and Stafford went to the team and coach he wanted to play for.