Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay says he wishes he had handled the Jared Goff trade for Matthew Stafford a lot differently.
Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay did not mince any words when discussing how he handled the Jared Goff-Matthew Stafford trade in 2021.
In a recent podcast of Bussin’ With The Boys, McVay said that he wishes he had handled that situation with Goff a lot differently.
“I'm super sensitive to what an amateur I was with the Goff situation,” McVay said. “You wanna talk about lack of courage, lack of clarity, lack of ability to be able to look someone in the eye that you've had a lot of really cool experiences with and tell them ‘Hey, not easy to say, but we might explore an opportunity to acquire Matthew Stafford, and you'll be a part of a trade there.' … I didn't handle that the right way.
“I'm not saying that we wouldn't have made the decision, but the handling of it was exactly the antithesis of how I would hope to handle things moving forward.”
The Rams and McVay ultimately parted ways with Goff, shipping him to Detroit in what was a massive haul for Stafford. In the trade, the Rams received Stafford, while the Lions received Goff, a 2021 first-round pick, a 2022 first-round pick and a 2023 first-round pick.
Many view the trade as a slam dunk for both sides. For the Rams, they came away with a Super Bowl title in 2021 and are favorites to hoist the Lombardi this season with Stafford under center. As for the Lions, they are the furthest thing from a laughing stock, as they have established themselves as a powerhouse in the NFL for the past few seasons.
McVay and Goff had some great times when they were together in Los Angeles. That duo spent four seasons together, and each did their part in guiding the Rams to a Super Bowl appearance in the 2018 season.
They fell short to Tom Brady’s New England Patriots that season; nonetheless, the expectation was that they would get back there together soon. That never materialized as the Rams missed the playoffs in 2019, and in 2020, Goff did not start in the team’s NFC Wild Card showdown against the Seattle Seahawks.
Goff came on in relief of John Wolford after he suffered an injury early in that contest; however, the former No. 1 overall pick was dealing with a right thumb injury himself. The Rams' contest against the Green Bay Packers in the playoffs that season was the last time Goff wore the blue and gold.
The California native’s tenure in Los Angeles didn’t exactly end on the best of terms, but both sides appear to be in a much better place now and thriving in their current situations.
