Trading quarterback Jared Goff in 2021 proved beneficial for the Los Angeles Rams, as they went on to win the Super Bowl that season. The move established the team as a powerhouse with Matthew Stafford‘s arrival, but head coach Sean McVay still has one major regret. During an appearance on the Bussin’ With the Boys podcast, he opened up about what he would change regarding the trade.

McVay admitted he did not like how hastily the decision was handled and would approach the situation differently if he were overseeing it today. “I’m super sensitive to what an amateur I was with the Goff situation, trading him…” said Sean McVay.

“You want to talk about lack of courage, lack of clarity, lack of ability to be able to look somebody in the eye that you’ve had a lot of really cool experiences with and tell them, ‘Hey, not easy to say, but we might explore an opportunity to acquire Matthew Stafford, and you’ll be a part of the trade there.’ But instead, it’s like you kind of get frustrated, and it was more really about me than it was ever about him.

Goff was kept completely in the dark and blindsided when the franchise finally informed him that he was being traded to Detroit. Even today, McVay admits the situation still bothers him because, on a personal level, he feels he failed his quarterback as a coach.

Despite leading the Rams to a Super Bowl appearance in 2018, Goff became increasingly inconsistent during the 2019 and 2020 seasons. The turnovers and mistake-prone plays piled up. One week, he looked like a top-10 quarterback, and the next, he struggled badly under pressure.

During the 2018 season, he put up All-Pro numbers with 4,688 passing yards and 32 touchdown passes. But opposing teams gradually adapted to McVay’s offense, and Goff was rendered less effective. Over the next two seasons, his production dipped to 22 touchdowns in 2019 and 20 in 2020, while the turnovers and inconsistency continued to pile up.

The Rams wanted an immediate solution, and bringing in Matthew Stafford from the Detroit Lions seemed to be the solution for them. They went ahead with the trade, leaving a bitter taste for Goff.

The Los Angeles Rams had drafted him No. 1 overall in the 2016 NFL Draft, and he spent five seasons with the franchise. Goff never imagined that McVay would leave him completely blindsided by the decision. As a result, the four-time Pro Bowler later admitted during his appearance on Netflix’s Quarterback that he felt betrayed by his former head coach.

“Three weeks after the last game of the season, get a call from Sean and really did not expect anything,” said Goff. “He lets me know they’re trading me to Detroit, and I’m like, ‘Whoa, OK, all right. What the hell? What’s happening?”

It caught Goff off guard, which ultimately spiralled into a bitter relationship.

Jared Goff felt unwanted and alone

Following his call with the head coach, Goff got to learn about the trade to the Lions from Twitter (now X) after the internet exploded with the news.  “You feel like you’ve been betrayed, or like, you’re not wanted,” he shared.

“And I think for me, ultimately, it was the fact that there was no conversation had, and there wasn’t like a ‘Hey, we’re thinking of moving on’-type of thing. There was nothing,” Goff admits. “You wish that it wasn’t such a blindside, and you wish that there was some sort of maturity, I guess, to have that conversation and to be able to let me know what’s going on and how things went down and why this is happening.”

McVay understands where Goff’s frustrations come from, and he is not trying to defend himself. He admitted that he feels the same way and mentioned that he was still an amateur at the time. But if such a situation were to happen today, he would be more careful and handle it much better. He did not like how secretive he was with the quarterback and regrets how the trade was handled.

Regardless, he and the franchise did what needed to be done. Bringing in Stafford finally got the Los Angeles Rams a taste of the Lombardi Trophy. While he regrets the process behind the trade, the outcome was not a bad one.