Revisiting deflated price of LA Rams QB Matthew Stafford

When the LA Rams ended their 2020 season with a heartbreaking loss on the road to the Green Bay Packers, the disappointment was so great that LA Rams head coach Sean McVay, long known to be supportive of his quarterback Jared Goff, decided that the Rams had the wrong guy under center to win a Super Bowl.

Weeks later, the Rams and the Detroit Lions negotiated a quarterback swap, getting veteran quarterback Matthew Stafford in exchange for quarterback Jared Goff and draft picks. Since that time, the question occasionally surfaces: Who won that trade?

In retrospect, the LA Rams trade for veteran quarterback Matthew Stafford was never going to be ‘just right.’ The values exchanged by the LA Rams and the Detroit Lions were always going to be one-sided eventually. Here’s why:

In the year of the trade, the LA Rams swapped starting quarterbacks with the Detroit Lions, and the following draft picks:

• 2021 third-round pick (101st overall, 38th pick Round 3)
• 2022 first-round pick (32nd overall, 32nd pick Round 1) TRADED
• 2023 first-round pick (Projected 32nd overall)

But the LA Rams did not just get Stafford for good value in the NFL Trade market. The LA Rams have landed one of the best quarterback values in the NFL right now. Huh? Here’s what we mean:

Taking it one step further, we learn that LA Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford is tied for the eighth-ranked NFL QB salary. He is tied with Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott, slightly less than Las Vegas Raiders quarterback Derek Carr, and slightly more than Minnesota Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins.

Stafford’s willingness to put up Top-3 QB stats, but take home a Top-8 QB salary allows the Rams to add veterans like wide receiver Allen Robinson and inside linebacker Bobby Wagner while renegotiating the contracts for both DL Aaron Donald and WR Cooper Kupp.

The value that the LA Rams got in veteran quarterback Matthew Stafford is not simply what he does on the football field. It’s what he does for the front office folks too. In the end, he didn’t cost the LA Rams nearly the value he has, and will continue to, give the team.