Don’t really feel dangerous for Matthew Stafford

As soccer careers go, few gamers in NFL historical past have had it higher than Matthew Stafford. And if the Rams commerce Stafford, which might be a task reversal for Stafford 4 years after he cornered the Lions into buying and selling him to a extra aggressive workforce, it could in all probability solely be for the betterment of each events.

In addition to re-writing historical past to recommend that the Rams had been principally “one play away” from going to the Tremendous Bowl.

“I love the city of LA… with that being said I love an adventure.”

Kelly Stafford lastly broke her silence on her ideas about Cooper’s commerce and Matthew Stafford’s future pic.twitter.com/yfQHDFtXve

— RamsNation (@LARamsey46) February 6, 2025

However you shouldn’t really feel dangerous for Matthew Stafford.

It is best to really feel grateful as a result of Jared Goff wasn’t going to get the Rams via the woods and right into a 2021 Tremendous Bowl championship. It needed to be Stafford.

It is best to really feel unsure of what the 2025 season will convey if Stafford will not be the workforce’s quarterback anymore.

You could possibly even really feel sympathetic to Matthew Stafford for having to cope with all the pieces in his life, at work and at residence, that he has to handle.

However dangerous?

Matthew Stafford traded the Lions

Normally groups inform gamers after they’re getting traded, however 4 years in the past Stafford went to new common supervisor Brad Holmes and head coach Dan Campbell and stated he didn’t wish to be a part of one other rebuild. It labored out for Stafford as a result of he went to the Rams and instantly received his first 4 profession playoff video games, together with a Tremendous Bowl, though in hindsight would he have made the identical determination if he knew how good the Holmes and Campbell duo was going to be?

You possibly can’t even actually say that the 2 first spherical picks had been essentially the most important elements of the Lions rebuild. This isn’t to say that Jahmyr Gibbs and Jameson Williams aren’t distinctive and dynamic weapons that Stafford would in all probability like to play with, particularly Gibbs and what he’s achieved in his first two seasons, however most of what the Lions have constructed was already there or on the way in which, together with Penei Sewell and Amon-Ra St. Brown.

Stafford traded his workforce and he acquired what he wished. How might any participant complain a couple of deal pretty much as good as that one?

$400 million profession earnings

The 2022 contract extension that he acquired from the Rams has not labored out good for the workforce in any respect.

In actual fact, if the Rams wished to be actually enterprise savvy and doubtless do the best factor for the way forward for the franchise, they’d haven’t prolonged Kupp, Stafford, or Aaron Donald. They’d have cashed of their Tremendous Bowl and began a rebuild in 2022. That’s what a heartless franchise would have achieved.

That’s not what the Rams did.

As a substitute, Stafford signed a four-year, $160 million contract with $63 million assured. Within the three seasons since, he has thrown 54 touchdowns, 27 interceptions, had a 91.8 passer ranking, and the workforce has gone 22-18 in his begins. Stafford was Most worthy to the Rams earlier than he signed a good, market-sized contract.

A heartless workforce might have traded him in 2022 or not prolonged him and seen how his subsequent season performed out. If they’d waited, the Rams would have in all probability simply let Stafford go away in 2023 free company or tag-and-traded him after he missed eight video games.

A Corridor of Fame debate resume

Stafford might not go into the Corridor of Fame, however he’s at the very least going to be within the Corridor of Fame debates and that’s solely due to the Los Angeles Rams.

Sean McVay helped Stafford tie a career-high with 41 touchdowns in 2021, and the Rams helped him recover from a 12-year playoff droop. Matthew Stafford, and by proxy his spouse, owe the Rams a debt of gratitude for buying and selling two first spherical picks and Jared Goff simply so he might say that he’s a Tremendous Bowl champion.

The Rams put Stafford ready to win and paired him with a receiver who would have a season as productive as any by Calvin Johnson. Then they received a Tremendous Bowl. Then they overpaid for him as a thanks. Now they’re attempting to dig themselves out of that gap that they need to have in all probability by no means created to start with as a result of they overvalued the over-30 contributions of their superstars.

Don’t really feel dangerous for the gamers that the franchise has to half with this yr or every other yr. As a substitute, attempt to really feel hopeful that the Rams will be capable to get better and compete once more briefly order regardless of being loyal to a fault.