Timelining: LA Rams trade Goff + Picks for Stafford now reality

The LA Rams situation with former starting quarterback Jared Goff had become as surreal and unbelievable as the initial news of the coronavirus pandemic that began in March and April of 2020. The entire idea of the LA Rams parting ways with Goff, right or wrong, began an entire chain of events that must now be reconciled. And then, suddenly, it was over. The gnashing of teeth, the inevitable clash of opinions over whether Goff is a Super Bowl-caliber quarterback or the reason for everything that is wrong with the LA Rams for the past five seasons. It was almost anti-climactic.  LA Rams fans were either pro-Goff or anti-Goff.

And there was no middle ground.

We know that the LA Rams wanted to move on from Goff. We know that after so much was laundered in public, quarterback  Jared Goff would have found it impossible to play for the LA Rams. Finally, we know that the only way the two would find that clean break was a trade. In a worst-case scenario, the LA Rams will be forced to settle for a mobile quarterback in the 2021 NFL Draft to compete with John Wolford for the starting role.

Quarterback Jared Goff was no longer in the picture to compete for a starting role. The Rams had defined the parameters of the 2021 season very succinctly and directly. The Rams wanted someone else under center and wanted to deal Goff to another NFL team. If that failed? Goff would be a backup to somebody.

A highly paid, humiliated backup.  Surreal and unbelievable.

But there was talk. NFL Rumors  Rumors of some of the biggest names in the NFL. The LA Rams filled the headlines practically every day with a new rumor or revelation. Now that the Rams have their quarterback for the next several years, we should revisit the timeline that got us here.  Let’s sort through them, shall we?