Stafford traded to Rams for Goff, picks...

@"Rigby" said:

@"MaroonBells" said:

@"Rigby" said:

@"MaroonBells" said:

@"BarrNone55" said: Panthers offered the #8 and a 6th. Washington offered the #19 and a 3rd

If Goff returns to form, this trade heavily favors Detroit. But if not, you just saddled the franchise with a horrible contract. Add to that the 6 year contract they just forked over to The Dude, all I can say is Lions gonna lion. Moribund franchise. 

Yes, and knowing the Lions, they'll draft nothing but tight ends with all those 1st rounders. 

Or corners...........oh sorry, thinking of someone else.

Corners should be 1st round picks. TEs never. 

On occasion sure, four in eight years - nah. For my money Kyle Pitts is one of the top five or six players in this draft - so I wouldn't say never to a TE either.

@"MaroonBells" said:

@"Rigby" said:

@"MaroonBells" said:

@"Rigby" said:

@"MaroonBells" said:

@"BarrNone55" said: Panthers offered the #8 and a 6th. Washington offered the #19 and a 3rd

If Goff returns to form, this trade heavily favors Detroit. But if not, you just saddled the franchise with a horrible contract. Add to that the 6 year contract they just forked over to The Dude, all I can say is Lions gonna lion. Moribund franchise. 

Yes, and knowing the Lions, they'll draft nothing but tight ends with all those 1st rounders. 

Or corners...........oh sorry, thinking of someone else.

Corners should be 1st round picks. TEs never. 

On occasion sure, four in eight years - nah. For my money Kyle Pitts is one of the top five or six players in this draft - so I wouldn't say never to a TE either.

I'm not a never tight ender, but close. And since I'm struggling to find motivation to work this morning, here's how I would break it down...

Never in the 1st:2-down LB2-down NTCover-two CBSpecial teams
Only if player is generational talent and this is your “last remaining need:”TERB
It’s wrong but I can be talked into it:SIOL3-down NT4-3 LB
Impact positions in orderQBDE3TCBOT

@"MaroonBells" said: That is an insane amount for Matthew Stafford, given his age, contract and injury history. I can't even fathom what Watson will bring. 

I think the perception that his team has held him back is probably what made Stafford so hotly pursued. And there's probably a lot of truth to that. 

Still, two 1sts, a 3rd and a starting QB? To a team with the #7 overall pick? The Lions could get a lot better very quickly. 

Mah...who'm I kidding. It's the Lions. 

@"purplefaithful" said:

Loser: QB Jared Goff2 of 5

In Los Angeles, the wheels fell off of the Jared Goff train quickly. Two years after a Super Bowl appearance, the Rams cut ties with him after consecutive inconsistent seasons. In 2020, Goff threw for 20 touchdowns and 13 interceptions. In December, he broke his right thumb and sat out of the team's Week 17 game against the Arizona Cardinals. John Wolford started and led the Rams to victory.  Although Goff was cleared to play against the Seattle Seahawks in the Wild Card Round, McVay opted to start Wolford, who went down with a neck injury early in the game. Los Angeles won the contest, but some wondered why Goff didn't start if healthy enough to suit up for the game.  The Rams foreshadowed their decision to turn the page on Goff's tenure as the starting quarterback. Now, he goes to a franchise that's in rebuild mode. This offseason, the Lions hired general manager Brad Holmes and head coach Dan Campbell to take over for Bob Quinn and Matt Patricia, respectively. Goff will attempt to reinvent himself under a first-year full-time head coach with a franchise that hasn't had playoff success in nearly three decades.

Winner: Detroit Lions

@"Geoff Nichols" said: At first I was a little shocked what the Rams gave up but when you break it down it makes more sense. 

- As for the draft picks, future 1st are devalued since you need to wait to reap value.  So I kind of find that to be a loss for the Lions unless the Rams end up coughing up a top-10 pick. Using the draft value chart lets say the Rams pick in the mid-20s so the two firsts are worth a combined 1,500 draft points. Devalue it some for future value and its worth less than the 8th overall pick from Carolina. The 3rd rounder balances that a big but the Rams also picked up a compensatory 3rd this and next off-season for the Lions hiring Holmes. In the end you got the equivalent of Carolina's 8th pick with upside if the Rams falter. 

-  Dumping Goff was out of necessity for the Rams so they could make Stafford's money work. They probably will bonus restructure Stafford to get his 2021 cap hit down to around $16M. That is a BARGAIN for Stafford, which is why trading for him made so much sense for other teams. Goff's dead money hurts but the reality is even if they move Stafford's money around they will have him at under $30M in 2022 with room to knock that down rather easily. So for a team that pays its stars, this allows the Rams to move into the top 10 in NFL cap space this season with some practical moves. I personally don't think they necessarily paid the Lions to take Goff. Maybe you could talk yourself into it but Goff's deal minus the dead money on the Rams books isn't that bad. Goff isn't as bad as people think and the reality is the Lions will draft a QB to compete with him. You can trade Goff next off-season fairly easily. $0M dead money on the Lions books unless they eat some of his roster bonus to get a higher return. 

In the end this isn't the runaway win for the Lions most made it out to be on Saturday night. They got a competitive deal tying their best offer and got Stafford to his preferred destination. If not for that I think the Lions likely would have had to taken the Panthers offer of #8, Bridgewater, and a late round pick. Washington was also considering offering their 2021 1st along with a 2022 1st. Could have been a pick swap in 2022 but I think both those offers were probably slightly better. 

@"greediron" said:

@"purplefaithful" said:

Loser: QB Jared Goff2 of 5

In Los Angeles, the wheels fell off of the Jared Goff train quickly. Two years after a Super Bowl appearance, the Rams cut ties with him after consecutive inconsistent seasons. In 2020, Goff threw for 20 touchdowns and 13 interceptions. In December, he broke his right thumb and sat out of the team's Week 17 game against the Arizona Cardinals. John Wolford started and led the Rams to victory.  Although Goff was cleared to play against the Seattle Seahawks in the Wild Card Round, McVay opted to start Wolford, who went down with a neck injury early in the game. Los Angeles won the contest, but some wondered why Goff didn't start if healthy enough to suit up for the game.  The Rams foreshadowed their decision to turn the page on Goff's tenure as the starting quarterback. Now, he goes to a franchise that's in rebuild mode. This offseason, the Lions hired general manager Brad Holmes and head coach Dan Campbell to take over for Bob Quinn and Matt Patricia, respectively. Goff will attempt to reinvent himself under a first-year full-time head coach with a franchise that hasn't had playoff success in nearly three decades.

Winner: Detroit Lions

We should all remember the real Goff.  Under Fisher (not an offensive genius, but still) Goff couldn't even hardly get on the field despite his draft status.  McVay came in and suddenly Goff looked good.  But if you will recall, the Vikings put a beatdown on the Rams in that year by not committing to their defense until after the helmet radio was off.  It leaked out that McVay was reading the D for Goff and feeding it to him at the LOS.  Yeah, McVay unleashed a revenge the next year, but you could tell this was his superbowl after being exposed the year before.  He is an offensive genius and had some really unique wrinkles to get our LBs isolated on WRs and such.  

McVay was able to keep Goff propped up and his offense did well, but without a running game threat, Goff couldn't shoulder the load and lost in the superbowl they shouldn't have been in.  

Bottom line, if McVay is ready to cut bait, you can bet that Goff hasn't developed in his ability to read a D.  

So I dispute that the Lions are a winner.  Goff will be a loser as he gets further exposed, but no way the Lions come out ahead with him.

@"Knucklehead" said:

@"MaroonBells" said:

@"Rigby" said:

@"MaroonBells" said:

@"Rigby" said:

@"MaroonBells" said:

@"BarrNone55" said: Panthers offered the #8 and a 6th. Washington offered the #19 and a 3rd

If Goff returns to form, this trade heavily favors Detroit. But if not, you just saddled the franchise with a horrible contract. Add to that the 6 year contract they just forked over to The Dude, all I can say is Lions gonna lion. Moribund franchise. 

Yes, and knowing the Lions, they'll draft nothing but tight ends with all those 1st rounders. 

Or corners...........oh sorry, thinking of someone else.

Corners should be 1st round picks. TEs never. 

On occasion sure, four in eight years - nah. For my money Kyle Pitts is one of the top five or six players in this draft - so I wouldn't say never to a TE either.

I'm not a never tight ender, but close. And since I'm struggling to find motivation to work this morning, here's how I would break it down...

Never in the 1st:2-down LB2-down NTCover-two CBSpecial teams
Only if player is generational talent and this is your “last remaining need:”TERB
It’s wrong but I can be talked into it:SIOL3-down NT4-3 LB
Impact positions in orderQBDE3TCBOT

Seems a little too rigid. If you're drafting in the 20's, do you want to draft the 6th best DE or OT? Maybe if it's not a deep draft at those positions, but I think you have to also look at the value left on the board compared to your draft position. This is why teams stack their boards vertically as well as horizontally. 

@"MaroonBells" said:

@"Knucklehead" said:

@"MaroonBells" said:

@"Rigby" said:

@"MaroonBells" said:

@"Rigby" said:

@"MaroonBells" said:

@"BarrNone55" said: Panthers offered the #8 and a 6th. Washington offered the #19 and a 3rd

If Goff returns to form, this trade heavily favors Detroit. But if not, you just saddled the franchise with a horrible contract. Add to that the 6 year contract they just forked over to The Dude, all I can say is Lions gonna lion. Moribund franchise. 

Yes, and knowing the Lions, they'll draft nothing but tight ends with all those 1st rounders. 

Or corners...........oh sorry, thinking of someone else.

Corners should be 1st round picks. TEs never. 

On occasion sure, four in eight years - nah. For my money Kyle Pitts is one of the top five or six players in this draft - so I wouldn't say never to a TE either.

I'm not a never tight ender, but close. And since I'm struggling to find motivation to work this morning, here's how I would break it down...

Never in the 1st:2-down LB2-down NTCover-two CBSpecial teams
Only if player is generational talent and this is your “last remaining need:”TERB
It’s wrong but I can be talked into it:SIOL3-down NT4-3 LB
Impact positions in orderQBDE3TCBOT

Seems a little too rigid. If you're drafting in the 20's, do you want to draft the 6th best DE or OT? Maybe if it's not a deep draft at those positions, but I think you have to also look at the value left on the board compared to your draft position. This is why teams stack their boards vertically as well as horizontally. 

Yep, that's an excellent point. 

I also wonder how much of a winner the Rams are. The argument is that Stafford is a better qb than shown but he has just been on a bad team. I am not disputing that the Lions suck but who has he elevated there? Will McVay elevate his play remains to be seen.

@"minny65" said:

@"Geoff Nichols" said: At first I was a little shocked what the Rams gave up but when you break it down it makes more sense. 

- As for the draft picks, future 1st are devalued since you need to wait to reap value.  So I kind of find that to be a loss for the Lions unless the Rams end up coughing up a top-10 pick. Using the draft value chart lets say the Rams pick in the mid-20s so the two firsts are worth a combined 1,500 draft points. Devalue it some for future value and its worth less than the 8th overall pick from Carolina. The 3rd rounder balances that a big but the Rams also picked up a compensatory 3rd this and next off-season for the Lions hiring Holmes. In the end you got the equivalent of Carolina's 8th pick with upside if the Rams falter. 

-  Dumping Goff was out of necessity for the Rams so they could make Stafford's money work. They probably will bonus restructure Stafford to get his 2021 cap hit down to around $16M. That is a BARGAIN for Stafford, which is why trading for him made so much sense for other teams. Goff's dead money hurts but the reality is even if they move Stafford's money around they will have him at under $30M in 2022 with room to knock that down rather easily. So for a team that pays its stars, this allows the Rams to move into the top 10 in NFL cap space this season with some practical moves. I personally don't think they necessarily paid the Lions to take Goff. Maybe you could talk yourself into it but Goff's deal minus the dead money on the Rams books isn't that bad. Goff isn't as bad as people think and the reality is the Lions will draft a QB to compete with him. You can trade Goff next off-season fairly easily. $0M dead money on the Lions books unless they eat some of his roster bonus to get a higher return. 

In the end this isn't the runaway win for the Lions most made it out to be on Saturday night. They got a competitive deal tying their best offer and got Stafford to his preferred destination. If not for that I think the Lions likely would have had to taken the Panthers offer of #8, Bridgewater, and a late round pick. Washington was also considering offering their 2021 1st along with a 2022 1st. Could have been a pick swap in 2022 but I think both those offers were probably slightly better. 

Geoff what is your background?  You are an excellent communicator and writer.  Very knowledgeable.

@"Geoff Nichols" said:

@"minny65" said:

@"Geoff Nichols" said: At first I was a little shocked what the Rams gave up but when you break it down it makes more sense. 

- As for the draft picks, future 1st are devalued since you need to wait to reap value.  So I kind of find that to be a loss for the Lions unless the Rams end up coughing up a top-10 pick. Using the draft value chart lets say the Rams pick in the mid-20s so the two firsts are worth a combined 1,500 draft points. Devalue it some for future value and its worth less than the 8th overall pick from Carolina. The 3rd rounder balances that a big but the Rams also picked up a compensatory 3rd this and next off-season for the Lions hiring Holmes. In the end you got the equivalent of Carolina's 8th pick with upside if the Rams falter. 

-  Dumping Goff was out of necessity for the Rams so they could make Stafford's money work. They probably will bonus restructure Stafford to get his 2021 cap hit down to around $16M. That is a BARGAIN for Stafford, which is why trading for him made so much sense for other teams. Goff's dead money hurts but the reality is even if they move Stafford's money around they will have him at under $30M in 2022 with room to knock that down rather easily. So for a team that pays its stars, this allows the Rams to move into the top 10 in NFL cap space this season with some practical moves. I personally don't think they necessarily paid the Lions to take Goff. Maybe you could talk yourself into it but Goff's deal minus the dead money on the Rams books isn't that bad. Goff isn't as bad as people think and the reality is the Lions will draft a QB to compete with him. You can trade Goff next off-season fairly easily. $0M dead money on the Lions books unless they eat some of his roster bonus to get a higher return. 

In the end this isn't the runaway win for the Lions most made it out to be on Saturday night. They got a competitive deal tying their best offer and got Stafford to his preferred destination. If not for that I think the Lions likely would have had to taken the Panthers offer of #8, Bridgewater, and a late round pick. Washington was also considering offering their 2021 1st along with a 2022 1st. Could have been a pick swap in 2022 but I think both those offers were probably slightly better. 

Geoff what is your background?  You are an excellent communicator and writer.  Very knowledgeable.

Finance. With that said you're probably shocked I can write anything other than numbers. 

@"Geoff Nichols" said:

@"minny65" said:

@"Geoff Nichols" said: At first I was a little shocked what the Rams gave up but when you break it down it makes more sense. 

- As for the draft picks, future 1st are devalued since you need to wait to reap value.  So I kind of find that to be a loss for the Lions unless the Rams end up coughing up a top-10 pick. Using the draft value chart lets say the Rams pick in the mid-20s so the two firsts are worth a combined 1,500 draft points. Devalue it some for future value and its worth less than the 8th overall pick from Carolina. The 3rd rounder balances that a big but the Rams also picked up a compensatory 3rd this and next off-season for the Lions hiring Holmes. In the end you got the equivalent of Carolina's 8th pick with upside if the Rams falter. 

-  Dumping Goff was out of necessity for the Rams so they could make Stafford's money work. They probably will bonus restructure Stafford to get his 2021 cap hit down to around $16M. That is a BARGAIN for Stafford, which is why trading for him made so much sense for other teams. Goff's dead money hurts but the reality is even if they move Stafford's money around they will have him at under $30M in 2022 with room to knock that down rather easily. So for a team that pays its stars, this allows the Rams to move into the top 10 in NFL cap space this season with some practical moves. I personally don't think they necessarily paid the Lions to take Goff. Maybe you could talk yourself into it but Goff's deal minus the dead money on the Rams books isn't that bad. Goff isn't as bad as people think and the reality is the Lions will draft a QB to compete with him. You can trade Goff next off-season fairly easily. $0M dead money on the Lions books unless they eat some of his roster bonus to get a higher return. 

In the end this isn't the runaway win for the Lions most made it out to be on Saturday night. They got a competitive deal tying their best offer and got Stafford to his preferred destination. If not for that I think the Lions likely would have had to taken the Panthers offer of #8, Bridgewater, and a late round pick. Washington was also considering offering their 2021 1st along with a 2022 1st. Could have been a pick swap in 2022 but I think both those offers were probably slightly better. 

Geoff what is your background?  You are an excellent communicator and writer.  Very knowledgeable.

Finance. With that said you're probably shocked I can write anything other than numbers. 

He's not really wrong...

Asked a former NFL VP who knows the Rams well about their love for trading 1st rounders.

“Firsts are overrated and overvalued. How many teams actually hit on those picks? [The Rams] are simply eliminating the risk by moving them for established players.” pic.twitter.com/yz4HQcq5JF

— Matt Miller (@nfldraftscout) February 1, 2021

You definitely mitigate the risk. The trade-off is paying premium dollars to do so. 

@"BarrNone55" said: You definitely mitigate the risk. The trade-off is paying premium dollars to do so. 

@"BarrNone55" said: You definitely mitigate the risk. The trade-off is paying premium dollars to do so. 

They don't take risks on draft picks and take the sure handed player. But then they instead take significant risks restructuring deals to kick money down the road and keep cap hit small. The risk is that if the player falls off or gets injured you're basically locked into their deal. But they've even been more liberal getting out of those deals as well with Gurley being the example. 

I am always a huge fan for teams doing things out of the box. But the combination of adding high level players with limited/no risk and then keeping the cap hits small by rolling them forward is a winning combination if you add the right player. Ramsey, Donald, Stafford, etc.. are all great bets. 

@"MaroonBells" said: He's not really wrong...

https://twitter.com/nfldraftscout/status/1356270337458139143?s=20

Matthew Stafford gave Detroit Lions 'every damn thing I had,' still torn over exit
As Matthew Stafford headed into the meeting that would change his life, he texted his wife, Kelly, and wrote, “Well, here we go.” The Detroit Lions president, Rod Wood, was waiting in the room. The Lions owner, Sheila Ford Hamp, was on speaker phone.
Stafford, who freely admits, “I never thought I would ever finish my career anywhere else,” had made what he calls the toughest decision of his life, to seek out a trade for a better shot at a championship. He was about to turn 33. The Lions were starting yet another upheaval — the fourth since he’d been here. He looked at the future and saw everything he loved if he stayed here, and everything he dreamed of if he left.
"I've always wanted to play in those big games, I feel like I will excel in those situations," he says. "I wanted to shoot my shot.” 
In a long, free-wheeling conversation via FaceTime this week, Stafford spoke with passion, humor, sadness and hope about the events of the last few weeks since that meeting took place, and how, in one blockbuster deal, he went from a Lion-for-life to the L.A. Rams’ new starting quarterback.
Throughout the talk, Stafford remained torn. He was sitting by the windows of his house in Bloomfield Township. His four daughters were tucked away in bed. His love for “the place where all our kids were born” is fierce. And his dream was to stay in Detroit until his wheels fell off, to be here “the next 10 years and we win two Super Bowls.”
He says he even imagined his retirement news conference “seven or eight years from now, with Martha Ford and Sheila Ford and all of them around, and a bunch of ex-teammates and local people I know.’’
But the man who holds every passing record that matters in Detroit history is too smart to play dumb. Even before Matt Patricia and Bob Quinn were let go in November, the tea leaves were becoming clear.
Time not on Stafford's side“To be honest, Kelly and I probably started talking about it before last season. It was one of those things where, you know, we were hoping that, golly, let's go, I hope this thing takes off and we play great. But if it doesn't, you just knew what was going to happen. They were going to tear it down and rebuild.
“And anytime you switch GMs and a head coach, you know that they're going to want to bring their own people in, and that's going to take time. And I, frankly, didn't feel like I was the appropriate person to oversee that time.”
Stafford was well aware of the terrible middle in the NFL, where you’re not good enough to make the playoffs, but not bad enough to get the top picks that can turn a franchise.
“In my mind, I felt like I was going to be able to help us go win six, seven, eight games, because I wasn't gonna let us lose more than that, you know? But I probably wasn't good enough (by myself) to help us win more than that. And maybe we don't ever get those top picks that we needed.”
Sometimes you stare at a mirror long enough to realize it’s not going to change.
That’s when you have to.
And so, armed with a resolve that only comes with age, Stafford, wearing a mask against COVID-19, sat down for that meeting and opened his heart.
'Go get a gold jacket, man'What followed, he says, was more than he could have imagined. He explained to Hamp and Wood where he saw himself. Where he saw the team. What he envisioned for both over the next five years.
“I shared my disappointments in not being able to bring them what I ultimately wanted, a championship. It was a tough conversation, probably the hardest one I've ever had, but one that I walked out of, frankly, blown away with their support and their understanding. The respect. I mean, it was pretty incredible.”
Stafford knew that the Lions agreeing to trade him was far from a sure thing. “They had every right to go, ‘Well, I'm sorry you feel that way. But you've got two years left on your deal. So you're going to be here next year.’”
That didn’t happen. Instead, both sides resolved to do something together, to remain fluid, and to stay in touch over potential deals. When he left the meeting, Stafford once again texted his wife to say, ‘That went about as well as it possibly could.” He told a close friend in the building what was going on, and he called two of his offensive linemen, Taylor Decker and Frank Ragnow.
“Those guys have put their bodies on the line for me. And I felt like I owed it to ‘em. I didn't want them to hear it any other way.”
Their reaction would buoy him. While both said “they would miss the hell out of” their teammate, they each added, “Go get a gold jacket, man.”
Stafford drove home feeling as if a boulder of anticipation had been lifted from his s
As one door opens ...Speculation on a future fit for Stafford burned across the national media. Reports claimed at least 10 teams had expressed interest once word got out that the Lions were open to a trade.
Where did the quarterback think he was going?
“I thought all the places that everybody else thought. Indianapolis. San Francisco — although you didn't know what was gonna happen with Jimmy (Garoppolo.) Washington, but we obviously didn't know what was gonna happen there.”
As for Los Angeles? He had his doubts. “I just didn't know how they would ever be able to (pull it off.)” Stafford says. “You know, I'm not a salary cap guru. It kind of got to a point where I'm like, OK, I can't sit there and go crazy. I just tried to let it happen. And L.A. aggressively jumped into it.”
Coincidentally, the Staffords were in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, for a short vacation when things really heated up. A number of other NFL players were vacationing there as well, and Stafford walked past a hot tub and saw the Rams’ veteran offensive lineman Andrew Whitworth in it. Whitworth waved at Stafford and joked that his team was gonna “make a run” at him.
A few hours later the deal was done.
Stafford had been traded to L.A. for their quarterback, Jared Goff, plus two first-round draft picks and a third-round pick.
When the call came from the Lions, Stafford told Kelly and they hugged. Then a whirlwind of emotion flooded over both of them.
“Obviously, we were excited for a new start, excited for the whole process of being on the trading block to be over. Now we had a place. We knew where we were going. I was excited about their roster and their coaching staff and what they can bring to the table and their recent success.
“But at the same time, it was a close of the door in Detroit. At that moment it was real.”
https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/2021/02/11/matthew-stafford-opens-up-leaving-detroit-lions-la-rams/6718344002/

Walking woundedStafford did not take that lightly. His biggest worry, he says, was that the Lions or anyone else would think that he was turning his back on them.
“You know, I want nothing more than to be able to come back to this place 10 years from now and everybody welcome me with open arms. And that was one of the biggest things that was weighing on me as I went in there to talk to them. I was like, ‘I don't want anybody to ever feel like I'm giving up on this town, or this city, or this place, I gave it everything I possibly had here.”
To that end, I ask about his injuries, about which Stafford has been notoriously secretive.
“I mean, this past year was bad,” he admits. “I had the partially torn UCL in my right thumb, I tore my UCL on my left elbow on the second to last play of the Houston game that nobody knew about, trying to stiff arm a guy. That's why I started wearing a sleeve on my left arm because I had all sorts of tape underneath it, just to hold it in place.
“I broke my cartilage on my eighth rib in Green Bay. I also tore something (in the back of) my left knee. And then I had a subtalar, right ankle sprain.”
He said he never spoke of those or other injuries, not only in deference to his fellow players who had injuries of their own, but to the city of Detroit, where he knew people were dealing with much tougher challenges than trying to play a game with a multimillion dollar contract.
“For them it's not injuries on their hands and ankles and ribs, it's ‘Where am I going to get the money to pay the mortgage? And how am I going to get my car from here to there?’”
'I gave this team every damn thing I had'It’s that connection between player and city that is going to be sorely missed now. Not that Goff or anyone who takes snaps for the Lions can’t develop it. But it doesn’t happen fast.
Stafford, who arrived at age 21, literally grew up here. Became a married man here. Became a father here. He embraced everything about Detroit. When he won the Comeback Player of the Year award in 2011, he likened his comeback to that of the city in which he proudly played.
Fans often say that Lions quarterback and Red Wings goaltender are the two most beloved, scrutinized, criticized and yet ultimately embraced jobs in Detroit. I believe that’s true. So ask yourself, in the history of the Lions, what other quarterback ever made this kind of connection? You’d have to go back to Bobby Layne. And obviously things with him ended on a far more sour note.
Stafford is grateful — and determined — to insure that’s not his story. He and Kelly are planning a major announcement about another charity endeavor before they leave (they have done an extraordinary amount of charitable work during their time in Detroit) and he’s hoping there will be a chance before the trade becomes official on March 17 to say a louder farewell to the city.
Until then, he keeps the spirit of that brief text before his meeting — “Well, here we go” — as his approach to a promising but unknown future and a precious but completed past.
“Sometimes it's not the perfect storybook ending in the same place,” he says. “But I can leave here knowing that I gave this team every damn thing I had.
“The way that they handled it, I think it's worked out for everybody, and I think it will in the future. I cannot I cannot express how much gratitude I feel towards the Lions for handling it the way they did.
“As much as I'm moving to a place that's got some pieces that are ready to go, I'm also betting on myself too, betting that I'm the person that can take them there. So this is a big challenge for me.”
He pauses, then adds. “But I’m gonna miss the hell out of this place."
https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/2021/02/11/matthew-stafford-opens-up-leaving-detroit-lions-la-rams/6718344002/

Stafford and gold jacket? One can only assume they were telling him to get a job at Century 21.