Matthew Stafford said his decision to request a transaction from the Detroit Lions, where he spent his entire career, was “probably the hardest conversation I’ve ever had in my life.”
Stafford spoke with two Detroit media outlets – WDIV and Detroit Free Press – in his first public comments, since the Lions agreed to change their franchise quarterback at the Los Angeles Rams last month for Jared Goff and three selection projects.
Stafford told Free Press that he and his wife, Kelly, have begun talks about leaving Detroit before the 2020 season if there is a regime change.
“It was one of those things where, you know, we were hoping that – golly, let’s go, I hope this will take off and we’ll play great,” Stafford told Free Press. “But if you didn’t, you just knew what was going to happen. They would tear it down and rebuild it.
“And every time you change GM and a head coach, you know they will want to bring their people and that will take time. And I honestly didn’t feel like I was the right person to monitor that time. “
Stafford met with team president Rod Wood and owner Sheila Ford Hamp right after the season to have the conversation. The Lions were opened at his request and began looking for business partners after the team hired Brad Holmes to be general manager and Dan Campbell as head coach.
Stafford told Free Press that he initially thought he would head to the Indianapolis Colts, San Francisco 49ers or the Washington Football Team – all obvious landing places in search of a quarterback. In fact, he didn’t think the Rams would be a team that could make a big deal.
“I’m not a salary cap guru,” Stafford told Free Press. “It’s kind of gotten to the point where I’m like, ‘OK, I can’t just sit there and go crazy.’ I was just trying to let this happen. And LA jumped aggressively into him. “
Stafford said he and Kelly were in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, when the transaction took place. Just before the deal, he ran into Los Angeles offensive lineman Andrew Whitworth, who joked to Stafford that the Rams had “run away” from him.
Whitworth was right, and within 24 hours, the deal was done.
“We were excited for a fresh start, excited to complete the entire blockchain process,” Stafford said. “It simply came to our notice then. I knew where we were going. I was thrilled with their list and their coaching staff and what they can bring to the table and their recent success.
“But at the same time, it was a doorstep in Detroit. It was real at the time.”
Stafford leaves Detroit as the Lions franchise record holder in every major passenger category, including yards (45,109) and touchdowns (282). He said he played last season with a partially torn UCL in his right thumb, a broken UCL in his left elbow, cartilage injuries on one of his ribs, a rupture in the back of his left knee and a subtalar sprain of his ankle. straight.
Now he is leaving for Los Angeles and a new beginning, grateful for the way the lions managed the separation.
“Sometimes it’s not the perfect storybook that ends up in the same place,” Stafford said. “But I can get out of here knowing that I gave this team all the things I had.”