Matthew Stafford shot his shot asking for a trade away from the Detroit Lions. The former number one overall pick for the Lions requested a trade following the 2020 NFL season and is getting a fresh start with the Los Angeles Rams.
Stafford told the Detroit Free Press that this was an option in his head all along.
“To be honest, Kelly and I probably started talking about it before last season. It was one of those things where, you know, we were hoping that, golly, let’s go, I hope this thing takes off and we play great. But if it doesn’t, you just knew what was going to happen. They were going to tear it down and rebuild”
Stafford to Detroit Free Press
The Lions fired Matt Patricia mid-season, marking the third head coach for Detroit since Stafford was drafted in the 2019 draft. Stafford was beloved in Detroit and had some incredible moments with the franchise, but enough was enough for him.
“And anytime you switch GMs and a head coach, you know that they’re going to want to bring their own people in, and that’s going to take time. And I, frankly, didn’t feel like I was the appropriate person to oversee that time.”
“I shared my disappointments in not being able to bring them what I ultimately wanted, a championship. It was a tough conversation, probably the hardest one I’ve ever had, but one that I walked out of, frankly, blown away with their support and their understanding. The respect. I mean, it was pretty incredible.”
By all accounts Stafford is a real stand up guy, he gave his all to Detroit, but the franchise and leadership around him never gave him a chance to succeed. I mean look at Calvin Johnson, he was one of the best receivers to play football in the last 30 plus years and even he retired because he was sick of losing in the Motor City.
TL//DR: Matthew Stafford shot his shot and requested a trade from the Detroit Lions
