Matthew Stafford’s monumental switch to Detroit Lions became official on Thursday morning, when he and Jared Goff made their first appearances on the premises of their new team. With the trade officially coming to the books, new details about the compensation have been released.
By transferring the NFL transaction, Lions are being given the choice of the first round of the Rams in 2022, their choice of the first round of 2023, a choice of the third round of 2021 and Goff in exchange for Stafford. We already knew that. However, the transfer of the transaction gave an important detail that was previously unknown: the choice of the third round that Lions will receive for this year’s draft is a compensatory selection.
Many assumed that Lions were receiving the original choice for the third round of the Rams – Choice 88 – in return, probably because the compensatory choices had not yet been announced when the exchange was settled. However, since then, it has been revealed that the Rams will have two compensatory choices: Pick 101 and Pick 103.
At this point, it is not clear which of the two Lions will be receiving, but overall, it is a downgrade of 13 or 15 points from what was originally believed. It is a small price to pay, especially considering that the Rams did Lions a favor by eating the $ 2.5 million Goff bonus, which was due on Thursday, but is not insignificant.
Perhaps one of the most interesting things about this development is how the Rams managed to make these compensatory choices. Due to a new rule that hopes to encourage more minority coaches and front office executives, if a team loses a coach or minority executive to a coaching or general manager position, they will receive a compensatory choice in the third round for two consecutive years. Therefore, it is entirely possible for Lions to receive one of the compensatory choices that the Rams received for hiring Brad Holmes.