Former No. 1 overall draft picks Matthew Stafford and Jared Goff are changing teams. The Detroit Lions are trading Stafford to the Los Angeles Rams in exchange for Goff, a third-round pick in 2021, a first-round pick in 2022 and a first-round pick in 2023, sources told ESPN's Adam Schefter on Saturday night. The deal can't become official until the first day of the new league year on March 17.
Stafford, the top selection in the 2009 NFL draft, threw for 45,109 yards and 282 touchdowns over 12 seasons in Detroit. Goff, the first pick in the 2016 draft, made the Pro Bowl in 2017 and 2018 and threw for 18,171 yards and 107 touchdowns in his five seasons with the Rams. Goff was L.A.'s last first-round pick, and the franchise has already traded away its first-rounders until 2024.
Stafford was not expected to return to Detroit, while Goff's future was "a beautiful mystery," according to Rams general manager Les Snead. New Lions GM Brad Holmes was hired earlier this month from the Rams, for whom he was the director of college scouting, and he hired Dan Campbell as Detroit's new coach on Jan. 20.
We asked our panel of ESPN NFL experts to weigh in on the Rams-Lions trade, whether Stafford makes L.A. a legitimate Super Bowl contender and how Detroit could fare in 2021:
