The Dallas Cowboys’ front office may have just been saved from themselves by two other NFC front offices. The Detroit Lions and Los Angeles Rams have completed a blockbuster trade, swapping high-paid quarterbacks and a bevy of picks.
Matthew Stafford, a few days after watching Dan Campbell be introduced to the world as their new, throwback, bite-off-their-kneecaps head coach, told the brass in the Motor City that he was tired and wanted out. On Saturday night, they accommodated his request as they said they would. The destination being the City of Angels was not expected. There had been indications in recent days the Rams were looking to move on from Goff, but this swap was not one that was expected.
Goff, two future first round picks and a third-round pick are heading to Michigan. Stafford is moving to the Los Angeles to work for Sean McVay. And through less than six degrees of separation, it brings up interesting tangents to Dallas and Dak Prescott.
For one, Goff and Prescott are more than draft-classmates from 2016. Goff was the No. 1 overall pick while Prescott was picked No. 135, the ninth QB selected that year. Goff not only reaped the benefits of a huge contract in line with his draft slot, he also re-upped after the minimum three years of his rookie deal. In fact, Goff just finished his fifth-year option season, which means outside of the original signing bonus, the new money from his lucrative four-year extension hasn’t even kicked in yet.
Prescott, of course, is still waiting on his long-term financial windfall. Prior to last season’s franchise tag, Goff had made $80 million more in cash than Prescott had, and Prescott had outplayed Goff in every sense of the word.
Meanwhile, Stafford has been the broken-winged unicorn that sensible Cowboys fans feared was only posing to his good side for the Jones family and head coach Mike McCarthy. Executive VP Stephen Jones is reportedly enamored with Stafford, a local quote-unquote kid from Highland Park and recent rumors have stated McCarthy was rather smitten with him too.
Prescott is a free agent yet again and although Dallas was not one of the teams officially linked to Stafford in the last couple of days, many fans worry the team was considering making a move.
Prescott has outplayed Stafford in almost every statistical category, the same way he has Goff, but still they are all linked in one way or another.
Dallas chose not to give Prescott the extension as soon as he was eligible in the way Los Angeles did. The Rams certainly regret doing so now, as do the Philadelphia Eagles for giving the extension to Carson Wentz, who was benched down the stretch of 2020 and will now have to fight for his job with their new head coach.
In the end, the deal works for both sides. The Lions are rebuilding and either they’ve landed a quarterback who is going to be their foundation or they remain bad and earn high draft picks to help them rebuild. They also have multiple first round picks to help them round out their roster or move up to select a QB.
The Rams get to pair a bonafide NFL QB with Sean McVay’s offense. To them, trading late first-round picks and missing out on players who were likely rated as second rounders is worth it.
For Dallas, the QB carousel spins with players who are linked and connected to Prescott, but neither in his league as a player.