Sean McVay on Jared Goff trade: ‘He deserved better’

Rams head coach Sean McVay regrets how the end of Jared Goff’s tenure was handled in L.A.

Rams head coach Sean McVay expressed regret with how the trade between L.A. and the Detroit Lions played out at the time for Jared Goff. McVay said that Goff’s departure after five years and a Super Bowl appearance could have “been handled better” on McVay’s end and that Goff “deserved better than the way it all went down” two years ago.

McVay said that he would not “run away” from his mistakes regarding how the trade went down for Goff and that he will always “acknowledge that”, and also that Jared Goff knows how he feels about the mistakes that the Rams made, whatever they were.

Weeks before the trade happened, McVay had all but officially benched Goff in favor of John Wolford by the end of the 2020 season. The Rams made the playoffs, but moments into their wild card game against the Seahawks, Goff entered the game to replace an injured Wolford. Goff helped the Rams win and advance to face the Packers in the divisional round, but was traded weeks later.

If not for incredibly fortunate timing that Matthew Stafford wanted out of Detroit and the Lions hired Brad Holmes out of the L.A. front office, who knows what would have come of Jared Goff that offseason.

In three seasons with the Lions, which has lasted about two seasons longer than anyone expected, Goff has revived his career and helped Detroit win their first division title in 30 years. They will host Rams, Stafford, and McVay on Sunday night.

No regrets.