Detroit Lions RT Penei Sewell on 2025 performance
Detroit Lions RT Penei Sewell said Jan. 5 his performance wasn’t good enough in 2025, and that he sets the tone for the rest of the offensive line.
- The 2021 trade sending Matthew Stafford to the Rams and Jared Goff to the Lions has benefited both quarterbacks and franchises.
- Stafford led the Rams to a Super Bowl title and is a 2025 MVP favorite, while Goff has revived his career in Detroit.
- The trade provided the Lions with draft capital used to acquire key offensive players in Jameson Williams, Jahmyr Gibbs and Sam LaPorta.
On Sunday evening, quarterback Matthew Stafford leads the visiting Los Angeles Rams into the NFC championship game against the Seattle Seahawks.
Almost five years have passed since the Detroit Lions traded Stafford to L.A. in exchange for quarterback Jared Goff, a 2021 third-round pick and first round-choices in 2022 and 2023. The blockbuster trade, agreed to in January 2021 and made official in March of that year, changed the fortunes of both franchises.
Free Press sports writer Rainer Sabin highlights the biggest winners and losers from the Stafford-Goff swap.
Winners
Matthew Stafford
The 2009 No. 1 overall pick, Stafford spent his 12-year Lions tenure posting gaudy statistics and establishing new team passing records. But he couldn’t help this historically bad franchise break free from the shackles of mediocrity. After general manager Bob Quinn and coach Matt Patricia were dumped midway through the 2020 season, Stafford determined he didn’t want to go through another regime change. So, he asked to be traded.
His wish was granted: Stafford, in his first season in Los Angeles, led the Rams to their first Super Bowl title since their move back to the West Coast in 2016. He has also guided them to three other playoff appearances. This year, Stafford is the betting favorite to win his first MVP award after topping the NFL in passing yards (4,707) and touchdown passes (46). If it wasn’t already clear before this year, it certainly is now: The second chapter of his career in L.A. has been better than his first in Detroit.
Jared Goff
After earning consecutive Pro Bowl selections in 2017 and 2018, the 2016 No. 1 overall pick appeared to regress as a passer during his final seasons in Los Angeles. Eventually, the team’s coach and offensive guru, Sean McVay, lost faith in him. So, Goff was shipped to Detroit. At the time, many skeptics wondered whether Goff would be a short-term placeholder at quarterback for the Lions.
As it turned out, he became the face of the franchise, helping Detroit achieve its best stretch of winning football during the Super Bowl era. At the same time, he experienced his own career revival. Over the last three seasons, no quarterback has thrown for more yards and touchdowns than Goff. All the while, he has propelled one of the top scoring offenses in the league and silenced his doubters.
Brad Holmes and Dan Campbell
The Stafford-Goff exchange turned out to be rocket fuel for the Holmes-Campbell regime, launching an era of prosperity for the Lions. It gave GM Holmes the flexibility and necessary capital to move up and down the draft board as he pushed to add players who would help form the core of the Lions’ offense. In 2022, he spent the Rams’ No. 32 overall pick to move up and snatch receiver Jameson Williams at No. 12. The following year, he traded back from the Rams’ No. 6 selection in the first round and grabbed running back Jahmyr Gibbs at No. 12, before using the Round 2 choice acquired in that deal with Arizona to take tight end Sam LaPorta.
All three players have become major contributors for coach Campbell, who has found ways to maximize their skills. There is no way the Lions become a scoring machine without them. It’s why a convincing argument can be made that Holmes and Campbell would not have been able to execute a rapid rebuild in Detroit if not for that blockbuster trade that kickstarted their regime.
Sean McVay
McVay was already considered one of the brightest young coaches in the NFL before the trade occurred. After all, he instantly revitalized the Rams when he took over the team in 2017 at the age of 30. But after Los Angeles came up short in Super Bowl 53 the following year and averaged only 9½ wins over the ensuing two seasons, he determined Goff was holding the Rams back. Whether that was true is hard to say. But McVay’s assessment seemed correct when L.A. won the title the season Stafford replaced Goff. Now, the Rams are in the NFC title game for the second time in five years. In the end, McVay got what he wanted – even if Stafford may not have been the sole reason the Rams have been able to scale new heights.
Losers
D’Andre Swift
In Swift’s first two years in Detroit, the Lions were headed nowhere fast. Then, without warning, he and fellow running back Jamaal Williams helped trigger an 8-2 surge over the final 10 games of the 2022 season. The future, for the first time in a while, looked promising. But three months after the Week 18 finale, Swift learned he wouldn’t be a part of it. Holmes used one of the picks acquired in the Stafford-Goff trade to take Gibbs, who was a more dynamic version of Swift – a versatile running back with the capability of being a receiving threat.
Two days after Gibbs came aboard, the Lions sent Swift to Philadelphia in a trade that included a package of draft choices. Swift’s one year with the Eagles resulted in his first and only Pro Bowl selection. He then signed a lucrative deal with Chicago, where he eventually reunited with former Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson. With Johnson calling the shots this past season, Swift set career highs in both rushing and total scrimmage yards. Had Swift been able to stay in Detroit, would he have been able to achieve those numbers sooner?
Lions defensive line
The Goff-Stafford trade had a residual effect on the Lions’ defensive line. After all, Holmes parlayed the picks in that trade to acquire additional capital that was invested into the unit. Some of it was allocated toward the acquisitions of 2022 second-round pick Josh Paschal and 2023 third-round choice Brodric Martin. Martin, an interior tackle, is no longer on the team after being cut last August following a disappointing tenure with little developmental progress. Paschal, an edge defender, missed all of last season after undergoing back surgery and has appeared in only 36 of the 68 regular-season games the Lions have played since he entered the NFL.
Because Martin and Paschal failed to contribute much, the Lions needed to devote additional resources toward the position group. They drafted defensive tackle Tyleik Williams in the first round last April and signed multiple EDGE players who have lined up opposite star pass rusher Aidan Hutchinson, including Marcus Davenport and Al-Quadin Muhamamad. Despite that, this sector is still in need of major upgrades.
Contact Rainer Sabin at [email protected]. Follow him @RainerSabin on X.
