Though the trade isn’t official yet, the Los Angeles Rams will have a new quarterback in 2021 after agreeing to swap Jared Goff and draft picks for Matthew Stafford at the end of January. It was the first big move of the offseason, coming just two weeks after the Rams’ season ended in the divisional round of the playoffs.
For the most part, Rams players who were asked about the deal said they were surprised by it. However, Andrew Whitworth read the tea leaves from Les Snead and Sean McVay, so he could tell something might be on the horizon.
What shocked him more was the timing of the trade and how quickly it came together.
“After hearing some of the press conferences and understanding kind of where we stood as a team, and what things were being said, you knew that there’s obviously some things there where it’s an open door for whatever,” Whitworth said, via the Los Angeles Times. “So, I mean, you’re more just shocked at the timing and how fast that whole thing came about and all of those type things.”
Players understand better than anyone else that the NFL is a business. And so Whitworth knows just about anyone can be cut or traded at any moment.
Being in the NFL for 15 years, Whitworth has seen his share of teams get broken up, watching the front office move on from players each offseason.
“So, I think as players you’re shocked by it, but I think it’s less shocking to the players only because that’s the nature of what we do,” he continued. “I try to explain to people that ask me around town, it’s like every August I show up I’m looking around the room like, ‘Oh yeah, that’s right this guy’s not here anymore. Oh, that’s right, he left in free agency.’”
Whitworth and Goff are good friends, often playing golf together. Goff grew close with Whitworth’s kids, too, so their connection runs deep off the field.
Whitworth said he’ll be “supporting him and wishing him nothing but the best” as he starts his next chapter in Detroit, but he’s also excited about the arrival of Stafford. Whitworth says he knows Stafford through former Bengals lineman Clint Boling, and they all play golf in their free time.
“I think that will be a pretty easy transition and, obviously, he’s a heck of a football player,” Whitworth said.
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