After being traded from the Rams to the Lions, Goff says he learned what it was like to ‘truly be wanted’
As time has gone on, both the Los Angeles Rams and Jared Goff have distanced themselves from the shocking trade in 2021 that sent the former No. 1 overall pick to the Detroit Lions for Matthew Stafford. Many saw Goff as a throw-in piece of that trade but the Lions viewed him as a franchise quarterback.
Dan Campbell and former Rams exec Brad Holmes wanted Goff to be their quarterback.
No matter how long ago that blockbuster trade was, it won’t soon be forgotten – especially not by Goff. In a sneak peek of the upcoming season of “Quarterback” on Netflix, Goff talked about the deal and how he felt “wanted” by the Lions. He couldn’t say the same about his time with the Rams.
Goff opened up about his first conversations with Campbell and Holmes, which helped him go from feeling down on himself to excited about this next opportunity.
“It kind of brought me from this moment of, like, picking up the pieces to, like, reinvigorated with this energy of, like, ‘Oh, this is what it feels like to truly be wanted and have these guys behind you.’ And I hadn’t felt that in quite some time,” Goff said.
He got emotional talking about the trade and how impactful it’s been on his career, starting fresh with the Lions after a falling-out with Sean McVay and the Rams. He even took a jab at the Rams, saying that they were among the people who may have thought he was being sent to Detroit to fall out of relevance.
“A lot of people saw it like I was being cast away or I was being sent (for) my career to die. And I think a lot of people in my former organization may have thought that, as well,” he said. “For me, I saw it as, what an incredible opportunity to be somewhere that has never won and has never been to the top of the mountain and how incredible would it be if we’re able to build this thing into a winner.”
The Goff-Stafford trade in 2021 came as a big surprise, especially considering the Rams had just given Goff a $134 million contract in September of 2019. He looked like their long-term quarterback but struggles in 2019 and 2020 led McVay down a different path.
The Rams won the Super Bowl in Stafford’s first year and the Lions rebuilt a team that was one of the worst in football, so it was a win-win deal for both sides – and for both quarterbacks, too.
There’s no doubt the Rams were the bigger winners, though. They got the Lombardi Trophy in that deal, too.
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