One of the teams with some reported interest in dealing for Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford is the Los Angeles Rams. The dots between the two are pretty easy to connect.
New Lions GM Brad Holmes, as well as assistant GM Ray Agnew, worked for the Rams three weeks ago. Los Angeles needs a better quarterback than Jared Goff to have a better shot at winning in the top-heavy NFC, or at least Rams head coach Sean McVay and GM Les Snead appear to outwardly hold that belief.
Figuring out a trade between the two teams throws a lot of breaks into the lines connecting those dots. Foremost is the Rams current quarterback and salary cap situation with Goff.
Goff’s contract is a monster of an irresponsible cap hit. He’s got guaranteed money over the next two years that makes Stafford’s deal–once the highest in the league–seem like chump change. Goff costs over $40 million in fully guaranteed salaries and bonuses in both 2021 and 2022.
There isn’t a lot the Rams have to offer outside of Goff. Los Angeles doesn’t have a first-round pick in 2021. The Jaguars own it as a result of the Jalen Ramsey trade, a swing-for-the-fences move that has largely paid off for the Rams. As a playoff team, the Rams pick later in each round, too. Their first pick in the 2021 NFL draft doesn’t come until No. 57 overall.
They could have extra third-round picks to deal once the compensatory picks come out, but that’s not the type of return the Lions figure to get for Stafford from other suitors. If other teams are offering a first-round pick as is largely expected, it’s difficult to see the new regime shorting itself just to deal with a familiar team.
Acquiring Goff, who did lead the Rams to a Super Bowl appearance two short years ago, would at least temporarily solve the Lions QB quandary created by trading Stafford. But Brad Holmes and Co. can almost certainly do better than dealing Stafford to the Rams.
