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Sean McVay: I didn't handle Jared Goff trade the right way, lacked courage to talk to him
May 20, 2026Michael David SmithPro Football Talk
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The Rams' trade of Jared Goff and two first-round picks to the Lions for Matthew Stafford worked out well for both teams in the end. But Rams coach Sean McVay says he regrets the way he handled it. McVay said on Bussin’ With The Boys that he should have been forthright with Goff about why the Rams felt they needed to find a new quarterback and warned Goff in advance that he could be traded. “I’m super sensitive to what an amateur I was with the Goff situation, trading him,” McVay said. “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 him, ‘Hey, not easy to say, but we might explore an opportunity to acquire Matthew Stafford, and you’ll be a part of a trade there.’ But instead, it’s like you kind of get frustrated, and it was more really about me than it was about him. I had a lot of things that I had to work through, and I didn't handle that the right way. I'm not saying we wouldn't have made the decision, but the handling of it was exactly the antithesis of how I would hope to handle things going forward." McVay says every player deserves to know where he stands with his coach, and McVay didn't do a good enough job of telling Goff where he stood. "The important thing is to operate with clarity for people," McVay said. "Did I have the courage to sit him down after that season in 2020 and tell him there's a possibility we might explore some avenues that might lead to you not being our quarterback going forward? No. Would I handle it different now? Absolutely." Goff has said it bothered him that the Rams never told him they were thinking of getting rid of him until just before the news of the trade broke. McVay said he heard what Goff said and learned he needs to keep it real with his players. "I appreciate his honesty in all of that," McVay said. "There was nobody to blame but myself."