QB Matthew Stafford reveals how he asked for a trade and more
Quarterback Matthew Stafford has been pretty quiet since the Rams acquired him in a January trade with the Detroit Lions, where the former No. 1 overall draft pick spent the first 12 years of his career.
But he opened up on a range of topics Tuesday in a 45-minute interview with the Los Angeles Times, discussing the decision to ask for a trade, his future with the Rams, and what it was like having Dodgers star Clayton Kershaw snapping to him on their high school football team. Excerpts from the interview:
♦ After 12 years in Detroit, you asked the Lions for a trade. What brought you to that point?
It was tough. It wasn’t something that I thought about on a Friday and happened on a Saturday. It was something that I had spent some time thinking about. It started casually probably with just my wife and I. She saw everything I put into this game and that team and that city, everything I had given. She had a front-row seat for that. She would talk to me about it, we would talk to each other.
It’s one of those things in life where you’ve got to make a decision. It wasn’t something that was easy for me. It was something that frankly could have backfired in my face. I could have said, “Hey, this is what I’m thinking,” and the Lions could have said, “Well, we don’t really care. You’re our guy for two more years and you’re going to see us through this thing.” I have to give them a ton of credit for their, I don’t know what the word is, openmindedness or respect for me? It was probably a little bit of both. They were understanding to let it kind of happen or at least get the wheels turning on it.
It was the most difficult thing I’ve ever done as far as conversations go. I have so much respect for that organization, the Ford family, the guys who had played in that uniform before me. There was a lot that went into that that I had to think about.
I told them, “I’m not going to say a word to anybody that’s going to say a word. Not until you guys are ready.” It was vice versa. In this day of social media and everybody trying to get the scoop, that’s not something that happens very often. I’m obviously excited about the new opportunity and happy it shook out the way it did. I feel like both teams got a fair shake out of this thing, and we can move on with everybody feeling good about it.
♦ Troy Aikman said he played golf with you before the 2009 draft and was impressed with the way you were excited to play in Detroit. There was no wavering on your part. What do you remember about that?
At that point, it was the only 0-16 team in the history of the NFL. Saddle up, here we go. But at the same time I was excited about the opportunity. One of our coaches asked us to write down on a piece of paper what your goals are, and I remember thinking about a Super Bowl parade in Detroit and how incredible that would be. I obviously didn’t get that done, something that still motivates me and is a big part of any reason why I’m still playing as anything. But I wanted that chance. I wanted that chance to take an organization that had never even sniffed that and give it a chance.
I felt along the way we got better as an organization, there’s no question about that, from when I got there until when I left. But I was barely 21 years old and just excited to get an opportunity. The bigger the challenge the better at that point. I was ready to take on whatever anybody had for me.
♦ So now you’re in Los Angeles, joining an organization that’s only three seasons removed from reaching the Super Bowl. You’ve got a running game, a defense and a revered play-caller in Sean McVay. Can you remember the last time you were this excited heading into a season?
It’s been a while. We had some good teams in Detroit, and I’m excited every single year because I love playing this game. But those years we made the playoffs (2011, ’14 and ’16), I thought we had good teams. But I’m very excited about playing for this team, the Rams organization. I’m excited about trying to get to know these guys. To win as consistently as the Rams have won in the last four or five years, you’ve got to have good people. You can’t just have good players and good coaches. It’s a really fun thing for me to be a part of, just trying to immerse myself in the team.