[pietasterp]

I think there's no question the Rams are better with Stafford under center, and if you put him on a playoff-ready team, I think that implies they are contenders to at least make it to the NFC title game.

I don't think the Rams gave up too much to get Stafford; competitive windows are very short, and if you think you have a team that can potentially go the distance, I think you have to go all-in and forget about what happens in 2023. Also, if you believe in the Jimmy Johnson "points" system of rating draft assets and players, LA's 2 first-rounders in '22 and '23 are likely going to be somewhere around the 20th pick or worse, so that's not really much more valuable than one first-rounder that is top-10 (by some estimates).

From my perspective, there were maybe 2-3 teams that are truly 1 good QB away from being a Super Bowl contender, and LA was one of them. Perhaps San Francisco and Indianapolis are the only other teams that I can think of that are literally 1 guy away. Maybe New Orleans (much as it pains me to say that), but that's about all I can think of. If I were any one of those teams, I would mortgage everything to get a top-tier QB like Stafford and try to win now.

From the Detroit perspective? I think they did about as well as they could do, although Goff's contract is a short-term anchor. Essentially, they paid cash for draft picks (by taking on Goff's salary to make the deal work), which isn't the worst idea in the world, actually. Now the hard(er) part is drafting impact players with those draft assets, and Detroit has historically been very bad at that. But I suppose hope springs eternal for the Lions (unbelievably).

A total victory for Detroit would be if they could somehow offload Goff before the season starts to a needy/desperate team (e.g. Indy or something) for additional draft capital. That would make this deal a total win for them. But that's really unlikely to happen.