Rams' Sean McVay: I Wish I Communicated With Jared Goff Better Before Lions Trade

As Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay prepares for the Week 7 matchup against the Detroit Lions and former Rams quarterback Jared Goff, he reflected on how he handled the trade that sent away the former No. 1 pick.

"Yes, I wish there was better, clearer communication," McVay said on Monday. "To say that it was perfectly handled on my end, I wouldn't be totally accurate in that."

Goff was traded to Detroit prior to the 2021 season in exchange for fellow former No. 1 pick quarterback Matthew Stafford.

The winner of the trade was clearly Los Angeles, which is currently 5-1 while Detroit is the last remaining winless team in the NFL at 0-6. 

Goff spent the first five seasons of his career with the Rams after they traded up from the No. 15 spot to draft him first overall in 2016. In four years under McVay, he helped lead Los Angeles to two NFC West titles and an appearance in Super Bowl LIII, which was won by the New England Patriots.

The Rams missed the playoffs in 2019 and lost in last year's divisional round to the Green Bay Packers. Goff seemed to lose the confidence of the front office. When Stafford made his trade request during the offseason, Los Angeles jumped at the chance to get the 33-year-old signal caller.

Goff later told reporters that he was blindsided with the news as he had no contact with McVay or anyone else from the time the season ended to when he was traded. McVay expressed regret for how it all went down.

"You don't want to catch guys off guard," McVay said. "It came together a lot faster than anybody anticipated."

While he wishes things were handled better with Goff, McVay noted that the Rams felt that they couldn't pass up the opportunity to acquire a player like Stafford.

"That was why that decision was made and that was why things came together as quickly as they did because we felt like it was a rare opportunity to acquire a player of Matthew's caliber," McVay said. "Those opportunities just don't come up often."

Through six games, Stafford has passed for 16 touchdowns, the most by any quarterback through his first six games with a team in NFL history, per Elias Sports Bureau.

McVay said he hopes Goff receives a warm welcome from the Los Angeles fans.

"I think he'll be received well," McVay said. "I think the L.A. fans and I think the Rams fans know what a great job he had done and how much—I think how much he meant to the Rams organization both as a football player and also the community."