We’re taught at an early age to appreciate what we have and not waste our lives wishing for greener pastures. However, sometimes the grass – or Astroturf – really is greener on the other side. It certainly must seem so to a couple of quarterbacks named Matthew Stafford and Jared Goff.
In 2021, the two were involved in a blockbuster trade that sent Stafford from the Detroit Lions to the Los Angeles Rams and Goff, along with a few draft picks, from these same Rams to Detroit. That both of these athletes are enjoying the change of scenery that came with finding the right patch of turf to play on speaks volumes about the role of fit between team and team member.
Goff was selected first overall by the Rams in the 2016 NFL Draft after the Rams had traded up in the first round. Despite playing well enough to be named to a couple of Pro Bowls, however, Goff was never able to lead the rebuilding Rams. In 2021, the Rams and Lions announced their blockbuster trade. While the trade wasn’t one Goff expected or especially wanted, he did get a peek at some greener grass awaiting him. For many pundits, the trade was extremely one-sided. Goff had been underperforming on a team with talent around him while Stafford had overperformed in the completely opposite environment. It looked to all like the Lions were giving Stafford an opportunity to succeed while taking LA’s discard.
But Goff said all those pundits got it wrong.
“You don’t want to be in the wrong place,” reflected Goff back then. “It became increasingly clear that was the case. [The trade] is something that I’m hopeful is going to be so good for my career.” While Goff said he was disappointed and upset upon learning of the trade, he added that his mood brightened within 30 minutes of speaking to the Lions and hearing about their enthusiasm for him.
Talking to the Lions, Goff said, is what made him go, “Oh my God, this is how it’s supposed to feel. This makes me feel great — how excited they were, how fired up they were.” As time passed, he started feeling good about the trade. “You start to feel, I don’t want to say relief is the word, but you start to feel happy, grateful, ready for a new opportunity.”
With relief sometimes comes improvement, and with Goff over center and some new draft picks who came along with him, the lowly Lions went from 3-10-1 in 2021, to 9-8 in 2022 and, so far this year, they have the best record in the NFL at 5-1. Since Week 9 of 2022, Detroit has gone 12-3 with Goff as its starter, with the quarterback posting a fantastic 26-4 touchdown-to-interception ratio.
In the meantime, over in Los Angeles, Stafford, did pretty well for himself. Although he was beloved by fans in Detroit and was viewed as one of the league’s best at his position, he felt that Detroit simply wasn’t committed to win it all — and Stafford wanted to win it all. So he asked the team that drafted him out of Georgia in 2009 to trade him to a team whose prospects fit with his own ambitions.
“I asked to go to a team that was ready to win a championship,” Stafford said. “There were a few teams on that list. There were a few teams that were not on that list. And they were respectful of that and understood completely. I had thoughts and reasons for each one of them.”
One of the teams that was on the list was Los Angeles, which had a quarterback they weren’t entirely happy with, and so the trade was made that brought Stafford to LA. Stafford enjoyed his greener pastures as much, or even more, than Goff, by becoming the first player in NFL history to pass for at least 6,000 yards and 50 touchdowns in the regular season and postseason combined all while leading a team to a Super Bowl victory in the same season.
There are times when it pays to be very careful what you wish for, and in the coming weeks we may yet have occasion to write about greener grass from a cautionary perspective; but this week, we’re throwing caution to the wind and arguing that, sometimes, you’ve got to bet on yourself and make a change. It doesn’t mean that your organization is to blame for not offering you what you want; nor does it suggest, at least to me, that you are blameworthy for “wanting too much” or displaying ingratitude.
It’s all about finding the right fit. The wrong fit doesn’t help individuals or their organizations. By sitting down and explaining his situation with the Lions, for example, Stafford left in excellent standing with both the team and its fans. He’d given them some exciting years and suffered a lot of injuries along the way, but he finished strong, at least as an individual contributor.
That’s why his former team and fans wish him in his new endeavors in his greener pastures. Besides, they seem to have found a nice fit in Goff.
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