Rams named a potential landing spot for Matthew Stafford
With both Sean McVay and Les Snead opting not to endorse Jared Goff as the Rams’ starting quarterback in 2021, it’s become abundantly clear that the team is on the search for his potential replacement. Deshaun Watson is the quarterback just about every fan wants Los Angeles to go after, but his cost will likely be much too high.
Matthew Stafford, on the other hand, could be a legitimate option. The Lions are exploring trades involving Stafford and teams have already begun calling to find out the asking price. Could the Rams be one of those teams?
David Carr of NFL Network pitched six potential landing spots for Stafford and the Rams were on the list. He set the cost at a second-round pick, a third-round pick and Goff in exchange for Stafford.
Where there’s smoke, there’s fire. That’s apparently what we have in Hollywood between Sean McVay and his frustrated quarterback, Jared Goff. After a rocky postseason, McVay vowed to “evaluate everything,” and that includes the quarterback position. I can’t help but think McVay feels Goff’s limitations at the line of scrimmage are preventing him from tapping into another level of his offense. Goff has shown improvement, but a guy like Stafford could elevate McVay’s scheme in more ways than we’re seeing now. It gets tricky when you actually consider what has to happen if the Rams desire to trade for Stafford, because they are projected to be $30.4 million over the cap — with Goff counting for roughly $35 million toward the cap in 2021 and another $33 million the following year — and don’t have a first-round draft pick this year. The Rams would almost certainly have to ship Goff and his contract to Detroit if Stafford were to come to L.A. In reality, this trade feels a little far-fetched, but weirder things have happened in the NFL.
Goff has now struggled for two seasons in a row, which came immediately after he signed a $134 million deal. That contract hasn’t even begun, as Goff still has four years left on his deal.
Moving on from Goff will be extremely difficult, and cutting him simply isn’t feasible due to the $65.5 million dead cap hit he would cause.
But trading him to Detroit, where former Rams executives Brad Holmes and Ray Agnew now are, makes some sense. It’s still unlikely to happen, but it shouldn’t be ruled out completely.
