As Matthew Stafford continues to do exit interviews, mostly with media people he’s extremely comfortable with, we are continuing to learn more and more about his decision to ask for a trade and what’s next for him as a member of the Los Angeles Rams.
Stafford, along with his wife Kelly, joined the Mitch Albom Show on Monday evening to discuss his latest philanthropic effort in the city of Detroit and give more details on the decision to leave.
One detail that he hadn’t noted in other interviews was the fact that he reached out to Jared Goff, who was part of the compensation in return to Detroit for the Stafford trade. After five somewhat successful years with the Rams, Stafford wanted to make sure Goff knew how impressed he was with his play.
“I shot him a text. We texted a little bit. I just told him that I know going out there I’ve got big shoes to fill,” Stafford told Albom. “That’s not lost on me that he was in the Super Bowl just a few years ago. So he’s a really good player in his own right.”
Expectations will certainly be higher for Stafford in Los Angeles than they were in Detroit. Already, the Rams have the third-best Super Bowl 56 odds after the trade was agreed upon, and they’ve had a winning record in all of Sean McVay’s four seasons in Los Angeles. Meanwhile, the Lions have missed the playoffs in four straight years.
Stafford also wanted to make sure that Goff was comfortable in Detroit, a place that may seem intimidating to someone who has never been.
“Just wanted to let him know that I appreciated him as a player, and (to) obviously reach out to me if there’s anything he needed when it comes to Detroit, just as far as advice or places to stay, anything,” Stafford said. “I know that he feels that he can reach out to me, and I can reach out to him with anything in LA, too.”