How the Carolina Panthers lost Matthew Stafford to the LA Rams. Oh, what could’ve been
It’s crazy how one quarterback can change the trajectory of a franchise.
That’s what happened for the Cincinnati Bengals and the Los Angeles Rams, who will face each other in Super Bowl LVI on Sunday.
The Bengals drafted Joe Burrow first overall in 2020 after a 2-14 season, and in two years, has his team looking like they may compete for Super Bowls for years to come.
The Rams, meanwhile, acquired quarterback Matthew Stafford in a historic trade a little more than a year ago.
But before that trade was made, it was the Panthers who almost secured the 13-year veteran in a trade with Detroit.
If you ask people in the organization, they’ll tell you they are still bothered that they didn’t get him.
The Panthers and Lions had verbally agreed on what it would take to get a deal done. The Rams, however, later put up a package the Lions, who were beginning a rebuild, could not refuse.
This is the story of how the Panthers lost Stafford to the Rams.
How it happened
Last January, on the first day of Senior Bowl, Panthers general manager Scott Fitterer and vice president of football administration Samir Suleiman met with Lions GM Brad Holmes and senior VP of football & business administration Mike Disner in the Panthers’ suite.
The Panthers had a question.
“Was quarterback Matthew Stafford available?”
After a disappointing 5-11 season in 2020, Panthers owner David Tepper had made it clear to the public that the team was looking to upgrade at quarterback.
“I think when you get to quarterbacks and NFL in general, you always want to try to figure out, do you have the best that’s in the position of this right now?” Tepper told reporters in December 2020, when asked about his satisfaction with Teddy Bridgewater. “And that’s constant evaluation and reevaluation of that. And that’s what we’ll constantly go through.”
Behind the scenes, the Panthers were frustrated with Bridgewater’s inability to stretch the field, his health and their lack of success in late-game situations with him leading the offense.
The team had three 1,000-yard wide receivers in DJ Moore, Robby Anderson and Curtis Samuel, yet rarely threw it deep. The Panthers went 0-8 with the ball in the offense’s hands in potential game-winning or game-tying situations at the end of the fourth quarter.
Stafford could solve those problems.
The answer from the Lions was “yes,” he was available.
They had just hired a new coach and GM, and were looking to acquire draft capital for a rebuild.
Conversations between the two teams continued throughout the week and finally heated up on the final days of the Senior Bowl.
And on Saturday, before team officials left Mobile, Ala., for Charlotte, it appeared that the sides were close to an agreement.
The offer on the table was the Panthers’ eighth pick in the 2021 NFL draft and Bridgewater for Stafford. The Lions were intrigued.
The only thing left was for the teams to trade medical information. Stafford had dealt with back injuries the previous season and the Panthers wanted to review his medical history.
When the coaching staff and front office members hopped on their private charter from the Senior Bowl that Saturday, they felt great about their chances to finally get their franchise quarterback.
However, after landing a few hours later, they found out that that was not the case.
The Lions had also been in discussions with the Rams about a trade. And the trade the Rams offered far exceeded what Carolina offered.
LA offered two first-round picks, a third-rounder and quarterback Jared Goff for Stafford.
Stafford reportedly preferred the Rams. However, he didn’t have a ‘no-trade clause’ in his contract.
The Panthers had found out the Lions and Rams were close to a deal from a reporter asking them about it. Holmes, the Lions GM, later contacted the Panthers to let them know it was true.
Holmes, through the Lions, declined to comment for this story.
The coaching staff and front office members for the Panthers were confused and shocked, multiple sources familiar with the deal said.
In less than 24 hours, Panthers executives went from confident that a trade for Stafford would be agreed upon to starting fresh their search for a quarterback.
What could have been
In hindsight, had the Panthers made the deal trading away Bridgewater and the eighth pick for Stafford, it would have been a steal. The Texans have asked teams for three first-round draft picks in a trade for Deshaun Watson.
Since then, though, the Rams and the Panthers have gone in opposite directions. The Rams are back in the Super Bowl for the first time since 2018. The Panthers finished with their second consecutive five-win season, and still haven’t found their future franchise quarterback.
It could have been Stafford, who at age 34, finished the 2021 regular season with some of the best numbers of his career. He threw for 4,886 yards, 41 touchdowns, 17 interceptions and completed 67% of his passes.
By comparison, the Panthers’ quarterbacks combined for 3,573 yards, 14 touchdowns and 21 interceptions.
Some within the Panthers’ organization believe that if they acquired Stafford, they’d at least be a nine-win team and possibly competing for a playoff spot.
“We won. We had it,” one Panthers source said. “Then it went away.”
But that’s now hypothetical. And Panthers fans and their staff are left to wonder what could have been.
This story was originally published February 13, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
