Los Angeles Rams coach Sean McVay gladly acknowledges that the team’s acquisition of quarterback Matthew Stafford in exchange for Jared Goff is keeping him in high spirits.
“I think I’ve been very happy,” McVay said when asked Thursday about the March swap. “Everybody says, ‘Man, you just seem like you’re in a better mood this offseason,’ and I said, ‘Damn right I am.'”
The Rams made it to Super Bowl LIII after the 2018 season behind Goff, a two-time Pro Bowler and the No. 1 overall pick in the 2016 draft. However, Goff’s play declined since then, and reports after the 2020 season indicated that the McVay-Goff relationship had splintered.
Earlier this year, the Rams decided to replace him with Stafford, who had mutually agreed with the Detroit Lions to part ways.
McVay talked up Stafford at a news conference Thursday arranged by the committee running next year’s Super Bowl in Inglewood, Calif.
“This guy, he’s a special guy,” McVay, 35, said about Stafford, 33. “I think one of the best ways that I can describe him when you hear people that have been around him, there’s a known confidence where when he walks into a room, you feel his presence, but he’s got a great humility about himself. Everybody loves being around him, and he’s one of those guys that’s a true igniter. He makes everybody around him better.”
Los Angeles sent Goff, two first-round picks and a third-rounder to Detroit to land what it saw as a quarterback upgrade. At the time, Goff seemed a bit blindsided.
“I’m just excited to be somewhere that I know wants me and appreciates me,” Goff told NFL Network after the trade.
Stafford will seek a fresh start in Los Angeles after spending the first 12 seasons of his career with the Lions. For his career, Stafford has thrown for 45,109 yards and 282 touchdowns versus 144 interceptions — almost a 2:1 TD-to-INT ratio. However, Detroit only managed to make the playoffs just three times and post double-digit wins twice during the Stafford era.
–Field Level Media