Is Jared Goff Wrong for Shot at McVay, Rams?

Take a moment to look back in time: it is the 2018 NFL season, and the Los Angeles Rams are the hottest team in the league with young head coach Sean McVay and a rising star quarterback in Jared Goff. Things are looking to turn for the better with a hint of a dynasty awaiting in February 2019.

Fast forward seven years; Goff is in Detroit, and McVay has their quarterback with Matthew Stafford leading a young Rams team that has reopened their Super Bowl window. The essential swap of quarterbacks in the 2021 offseason has become a topic of discussion once again after an episode of Netflix's "Quarterback," which documents Goff's 2024 season, where he led the Lions to their best season ever.

The divorce between Goff and McVay has been highlighted for the last few years. The latter began growing impatient, and the former's inconsistencies in the final years together began to wear down McVay's patience with Goff's shortcomings as a passer. While time has shown Goff to be a better quarterback in Detroit than he was in Los Angeles, the former Los Angeles star took a shot at his former team and coach, saying he had felt 'betrayed' and 'not wanted.'

"You feel like you've been betrayed, or like you're not wanted," Goff said. "I think for me, ultimately it was the fact that there was not a conversation had, and there wasn't like a 'Hey we're thinking of moving on' type of thing.' There was nothing."

McVay himself has even acknowledged the inconsistencies in communication concerning the trade. "You never know which direction this is gonna go, but when you sit there and you say ‘I had some growing up to do.' Could have done a better job for Jared."

It is yet another piece to the discussion of the consequential trade between the two teams and quarterbacks. Both passers have had great success with their respective organizations, and things seem to be on an upward trajectory for both players entering the 2025 season.

However, was Goff wrong for taking a shot at his former team and coach? I don't believe he was.

If I were in Goff's position, those feelings would be justified to this day. In 2021, the Lions were a team where dreams go to die. They were at the bottom of the league, going through a rebuild with a new coach and front office, along with a young roster, and there is a sense of abandonment that the team you thought was going to be your forever home was no longer that.

That is hard for a player to digest because of the unknown of what happens next. To Goff's credit, he kept digging and became one of the 10 best passers in the NFL. What helps make his shot toward his former coach justified is McVay's previous acknowledgment of how things turned out, and he understands where his former quarterback is coming from as well.

Regardless, the trade between Goff and Stafford changed two franchises forever, for the better, and is one of the best in recent league memory.