Wade Payne / Associated Press
Matthew Stafford’s 12-season career with the Detroit Lions came to an end after the team traded 2009 No. 1 overall choice for the Los Angeles Rams for quarterback Jared Goff, two future choices in the first round and a selection in the third ESPN’s Adam Schefter on Saturday.
It’s a new era in Detroit, with general manager Brad Holmes taking the lead and coach Dan Campbell patrolling the wings.
Tom Pelissero of the NFL Network reported on January 23 that Stafford and the Lions had “open and healthy discussions “after the end of the 2020 season, and both sides agreed that it was the right time to separate each other.
As for Stafford, a new home where he is better positioned to compete for the Super Bowl at this stage in his career, is probably a better move than participating in a rebuild.
The 32-year-old now heads to Los Angeles after completing 64.2 percent of his passes for 26 touchdowns, 10 interceptions and 4,084 yards last year. He is also a year away from accumulating 8.6 yards for a pass attempt, the record of his career.
Stafford started for Lions from the first week of the 2009 season onwards. Although the team was not very successful outside of the three playoff appearances, he did well as a Lions defender, completing 62.6 percent of his passes for 282 touchdowns and 144 picks.
In addition, the Georgia product has done an excellent job of forming relationships with a rotating cast of top receivers in recent years. A core dominated by Calvin Johnson gave way to a group led by Golden Tate and Marvin Jones Jr. before Kenny Golladay took over as No. 1 on the team.
Now Stafford will launch for Cooper Kupp, Robert Woods and a new set of pass-catchers for the Rams when he moves to LA
Meanwhile, Los Angeles made a seismic shift in the quarterback, replacing veteran Stafford in place of Goff, which Rams took with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2016 NFL draft.
Goff’s numbers have plummeted in recent years, with his yards per attempt dropping from 8.4 in 2018 (year of the NFC team title) to 7.2 in 2020.
On January 29, ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler reported: “Matthew Stafford considers the Rams to be a viable candidate in his commercial market with Lions. While it is unclear what the Rams can do with Jared Goff’s long-term deal in the books, they explored the possibilities with Stafford.”
And now that possibility is a reality, with Stafford looking to take the Rams back to the Super Bowl.