The time between Detroit Lions revealing that longtime quarterback Matthew Stafford was available via exchange and the deal between Lions and Rams did not take as long as many expected. Lions GM Brad Holmes quickly made a deal with his former employer to send Stafford to Los Angeles in exchange for Jared Goff, two choices in the first round and one choice in the third round.
At his press conference on Friday introducing Goff to the Detroit media, Holmes made it clear that he had several strong offers for Stafford. But in the end, he was attracted to Goff as part of the comeback.
“There were a large number of teams, not to mention anyone specifically, but a good number of teams that had all the aggressive offers,” said Holmes. “So when we started discussions with the Rams and (GM) Les (Snead), obviously, that was when Jared (Goff) came into play. I thought that of all the aggressive and competitive offers that we were evaluating, that being able to acquire a quarterback at the level of what Jared accomplished, I found this very, very intriguing from the point of view of compensation. “
Holmes does not mention names, obviously. But based on the frantic reports surrounding the subsequent deal with Carson Wentz and possible presence of Russell Wilson and Deshaun Watson in the trade bloc, it is easy to validate Holmes’ claim. Teams like Indianapolis (who switched to Wentz), Chicago, Dallas (who resumed Dak Prescott), Washington and Denver used to talk to Lions about Stafford’s availability before the switch between Lions and Rams.
Based on the Eagles’ return to Wentz – a QB younger than Stafford – Holmes had a good return for Stafford. The Eagles were given a third round choice in 2021 and a conditional draft choice in 2022 that will be a first or second round choice as part of the deal. The Rams, including Goff, although at a high cost to the salary cap, were too sweet for Holmes to pass up.