#Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo's key to Sunday? Don't let Tom Brady read your mail. pic.twitter.com/Bo0I4aErsf

— Nick Jacobs (@Jacobs71) February 3, 2021

Last year, @BillieJeanKing sat down with Bruce Arians, Lori Locust, and Maral Javadifar to find out why an inclusive culture drives the @Buccaneers success. pic.twitter.com/8DotcBiedS

— NFL Films (@NFLFilms) February 2, 2021

Rams WR Cooper Kupp with a goodbye note to former teammate Jared Goff. (via Kupp’s IG) pic.twitter.com/ff7km1fkBY

— Lindsey Thiry (@LindseyThiry) February 2, 2021

Multiple @NFL sources indicate to me that Derek Carr is a hot commodity. And it is expected that multiple teams will pursue him via trade That could lead to the @Raiders pursuing Deshaun Watson in a blockbuster trade. My story:https://t.co/rnxHJK9KC0

— Vincent Bonsignore (@VinnyBonsignore) February 3, 2021

Trade Talk: Lions expert breaks down what Rams are getting with Matthew Stafford

Cameron DaSilva

* https://theramswire.usatoday.com/lists/rams-lions-matthew-stafford-trade-analysis-breakdown/

The Los Angeles Rams kicked off the offseason with a massive trade, sending Jared Goff and draft picks to the Detroit Lions for Matthew Stafford. After Goff struggled in Sean McVay’s system the last two seasons, the Rams made it clear that they wanted to upgrade at the most important position in sports.

While Stafford is older, he brings a different style of play to the quarterback spot. It’s hard not to get excited about the prospect of Stafford teaming up with McVay, but is this a perfect match without flaws?

We talked to Lions Wire managing editor Jeff Risdon about Stafford and gathered some intel on the Rams’ new quarterback. While he doesn’t pin the Lions’ lack of wins in the last 12 years on Stafford, he did point out some weaknesses in the QB’s game.

1
Aside from clearly having a big arm, what would you say is Stafford’s best trait?

His willingness to trust both that arm and the receivers he’s throwing at to make plays that other QBs won’t consider trying. It never allows the defense to relent because he’s proven he will throw it into an impossibly tiny window, or at least try.

2
There’s been an argument made that a good portion of Stafford’s numbers come in garbage time when the Lions are getting blown out. Is there any truth to that?

He earned the “Stat Padford” nickname early in his career with a certain segment of the Detroit media and it stuck even though he proved it was largely bullcrap. The fact is, he played on a lot of teams that had very bad defenses, especially during the Matt Patricia era. He’s playing from behind a lot more than the average QB.

Having said that, Stafford has always been prone to cold starts and streaks in games where he’s just “off.” Lions fans got used to him going something like 2-for-8, 27 yards, 1 INT in the second quarter of a game; things like that happen more with Stafford than they should for any QB.

The flip side? Stafford has proven himself to be amazing at rallying in the fourth quarter. He’s 7th in NFL history in 4th-quarter comebacks, tied with John Elway. He’s consistently been at his best with the team down two scores in the fourth quarter.

3
The Rams use a lot of play-action and rollouts. How does Stafford typically perform on those two play types?

He is not a good rollout passer. His ability to throw a strike to a moving target greatly diminishes if he’s also moving. If he can roll, stop and set himself to throw, he’s fine. He also tends to make the big mistake when he’s on the move, like he doesn’t see the field nearly as well. He is not a guy who will win with his legs on designed runs but he got better at tucking and running in the last few years, especially before the second broken back. He’s smart about it.

Play action, he’s phenomenal. When his RBs sell it well (and that hasn’t been the case often enough), Stafford is great at concealing the ball and then quickly identifying where the hole in the defense emerges. The Lions offense didn’t use it nearly enough.

One other quick quirk: He doesn’t like pre-snap motion, and he’s always had a preference to let the play clock drain way down before calling for the snap. It persisted through all his coaches. He made a comment when Darrell Bevell took over as the OC that he hoped “we’re not motioning guys everywhere” (paraphrased) and he meant it.

4
There’s about a 6% difference in Stafford’s completion rate from his first 6 seasons to his last 6 seasons. Has there been a notable change in his style of play?

It’s an oversimplification to say he played those first years with Calvin Johnson and then without him. As fabulous as Johnson was – he belongs in the Hall of Fame – he still led the NFL in drops in the decade from 2010-2019 two years after he retired, and he never had a good No. 2 receiver to pair him with. Stafford got more accurate and the confidence in his receivers spiked up when he had several capable receivers on any one play – guys like Golden Tate, Marvin Jones, Theo Riddick out of the backfield, Danny Amendola and T.J. Hockenson the last couple of years.

5
How worried should the Rams be about Stafford’s 0-3 postseason record, and the fact that he only made the playoffs three times in 12 seasons?

Stafford played well enough to win in the 2014 season loss to the Cowboys, a game the Lions had absolutely stolen from them by an officiating controversy. He did not play well in the other playoff games.

As for the lack of team success, it’s very difficult to blame Stafford. He never had a good run game. Detroit had one 1,000-yard rusher in his 12-year career and finished in the bottom five in rushing yards per game and rushing yards per carry more often than they didn’t. The defenses were often just as bad; I’ve been covering the NFL since 2004 and there is zero doubt in my mind the 2020 Lions were the worst-coordinated defense I’ve ever seen. The one year everything really came together for the team (2014) ironically was probably Stafford’s worst – not as good as his numbers might indicate.

His contract was an issue earlier on, that’s perhaps the most valid criticism or finger-pointing at Stafford. When the team had him, Ndamukong Suh and Calvin Johnson all together from 2012-2014, there was very little money to pay anyone else to help them. But that’s irrelevant to the Rams now.

PARAM

The Rams have acquired established quarterbacks in their 30’s many times over the years. Starting way back in 1961, they got Zeke Bratkowski but he was primarily a backup before they got him, then a backup to Bart Starr after he left. He went 4-2 as a Ram starter.

Hadl 33 years old in 73. Namath 34 years old in 1977 (3-5 as a Ram), Bert Jones 31 in 1982 (2-4), Steve Bartkowski, 34 in 1986 (4-2). Dieter Brock wasn’t an established NFL QB but he was 34 in 1985 and went 11-4.

But Hadl was the one that compares most to Matt Stafford. He was 33, just like Stafford will be when he goes under center as a Ram for the first time. He started 122 games prior to his arrival. Stafford has started 165. He has 201 TD passes before he suited up for the Rams. Stafford has 282. And he had almost 27,000 yards passing leading the league (AFL) 3 times in that catagory. Stafford has 45109. But those numbers are aided by the changes in the NFL since 1973. Hadl was a prolific passer and so is Stafford. It will be interesting to see how he does in what is believed to be a good offensive system.[

Gregg Bell@gbellseattle
Rams now have over $40 million in cap space going to QBs this year. The cap numbers for Aaron Donald and Jalen Ramsey will be just over $50 million combined.

That’s more than half the expected cap number for LA’s entire team in 2021 for just 3 guys, plus 1 who will play for DET

NFL Update@MySportsUpdate
Another wrinkle in the Matthew Stafford trade: At one point on Saturday, the #Lions and #Panthers were so close that Carolina was in the process of obtaining Stafford’s medicals from Detroit, per @AlbertBreer. The #Rams came in with a more aggressive offer, and that got it done.

Bucky Brooks@BuckyBrooks
The hit rate on 1st round picks is around 50%, per an annual study from @CharleyCasserly. The #Rams are opting for the sure thing over the unproven commodity. Time will tell if their gambles are correct but I’m not mad at them for daring to be different

Torrey Smith@TorreySmithWR
Let me give you some advice. If you are having a conversation with someone about Matthew Stafford’s talent and they say he sucks, stop the conversation and don’t talk to that person about football ever again.

from PFF: Ranking the most productive 2020 NFL rookie draft classes 1-32

https://www.pff.com/news/nfl-most-productive-2020-rookie-draft-classes

11. Los Angeles Rams

Why they’re ranked here: Despite the Rams having nine picks in the 2020 draft, their rookies played the fifth-fewest combined snaps among NFL teams. The group logged just over 1,400 total snaps in the regular season. And over half of those snaps played came courtesy of sixth-round safety Jordan Fuller, who generated twice as much PFF WAR as the rest of Los Angeles’ rookie class combined.

How their top pick fared: Cam Akers, the 52nd overall pick, had his two best games of the season from a grading standpoint in the playoffs. Against Seattle in the wild-card round and Green Bay in the divisional round, Akers earned rushing grades of 72.7 and 88.1, respectively. Including those postseason games, he finished with a 77.6 rushing grade that ranked 22nd out of 60 qualifying running backs. That’s not a bad mark, but he still didn’t generate a significant amount of value for the Rams, especially considering where he was drafted.

Best value pick: Los Angeles grabbed Ohio State safety Fuller with the 199th pick, and he ended up playing more and better than any of the Rams’ other first-year players. Fuller logged over 700 snaps and ended up finishing as the 16th-most-valuable rookie of the 2020 season, per PFF WAR.

ROUND/PICK NAME POS COLLEGE
2/52 Cam Akers RB Florida State
2/57 Van Jefferson WR Florida
3/84 Terrell Lewis OLB Alabama
3/104 Terrell Burgess S Utah
4/136 Brycen Hopkins TE Purdue
6/199 Jordan Fuller S Ohio State
7/234 Clay Johnston ILB Baylor
7/248 Sam Sloman K Miami (OH)
7/250 Tremayne Anchrum G Clemson

Highest passer rating under pressure:
1. Justin Herbert – 99.4
2. Matthew Stafford – 91.8
3. Russell Wilson – 88.2
4. Deshaun Watson – 87.7 pic.twitter.com/A8fDn652rs

— PFF (@PFF) February 1, 2021

Aaron Donald can really hit Goff next year 🤯🤯🤭🤭pic.twitter.com/jvRAfFOHBW

— RanGotBeats🐏🐏🐏 (@Ran_215beatz) February 1, 2021

Sean McVay dealing from Cabo, a call about Rodgers, & the Lions desire to end things right. @PSchrags on how the Stafford-Goff trade went down.

"Panthers offered a very handsome package but Lions went with the Rams deal. They wanted Goff & viewed him as a key piece to the deal." pic.twitter.com/67kauYR2Wl

— GMFB (@gmfb) February 1, 2021

AlbaNY_Ram

More about this: “2) Matt has never had a defense or a running game”

Detroit had a top 10 defense once in Stafford’s 12 year career. The Lions finished 11-5 that season.

The Lions have had a 100 yard rusher 11 times in his career. I can’t find the results for the last 2, but the first 9 times it happened the Lions were 8-1. https://www.reddit.com/r/nfl/comments/9iejpr/matthew_stafford_has_had_a_total_of_9_100yard/

edit: I looked up the other 2 games.

D’Andre swift got 116 yards against Jacksonville in week 6 this year and Detroit won 34-16.

And last year, week 4, Kerryon Johnson had 125 yards against KC but KC still won 34-30.

So 9-2 with a 100 yard rusher, 11-5 with a top 10 defense.

My thoughts on the Rams' handling of their football divorce with Jared Goff… and his reaction to joining the Lions… @nflnetwork @PatrickClaybon @JimTrotter_NFL pic.twitter.com/b6UaeOMudC

— Michael Silver (@MikeSilver) January 31, 2021