LA Rams Goff-Stafford trade: Way too soon winners and losers

If you haven’t already heard, the LA Rams lit up the NFL headlines with a blockbuster trade on Saturday, January 30, 2021. The first thing that happens after an NFL Draft, an NFL free agent signing, or an NFL Trade is the inevitable grade, the winners and losers, I am no fan of the exercise because of the very notion that we ‘know’ the future outcome is a very shaky business.

But few hesitate to wade in. In fact, it’s become a traditional ritual after any NFL transaction to grade the event, assign winners and losers, and applaud or boo and hiss at a move that has yet to have any meaningful impact on the outcome of either team or the future careers of any of the players involved.

So let’s toss some of the meaningless elements of that whimsical tradition to the side. The best that any takes can provide for trades, drafts, or signings is to presume what the goal was by the team or player, and then subjectively inspect whether those objectives seem to be addressed. A compelling reason to read further?

Well, there are plenty of reasons to continue doing so. After all, this is a rather complex transaction and thereby will have various stages and layers to understand. So if we put this out into the universe now, we have a “Go” square, which we can lap back to, refine our understanding, point out where we made incorrect or ineffective conclusions, and try again down the road.

But the move is months old in theory, and officially over a month old now. The emotions have died down. The reality of two teams sending out brand new quarterbacks is beginning to settle in. Surely, we can responsibly set forth into weighing in on the apparent winners and losers of the exchange, right?