The Raiders made a big effort to trade for Matthew Stafford in the offseason, and it was reported at the time that the Raiders were only willing to give the Rams a third-round pick for the veteran quarterback.
Based on a number of reports, there were several teams interested in Stafford, but the Rams couldn’t get a first-round pick for him and that led to Stafford and the Rams coming to a resolution.
League insider Adam Schefter offered a few more details this week (via ESPN’s Unsportsmanlike) on how the Stafford situation played out in February, and he confirmed that the Raiders were one of the teams trying to trade for Stafford.
He also said the Raiders were one of the many teams looking for a bargain on Stafford.
“It’s amazing to me, but the quandary was… the Giants were calling on them, the Steelers were calling on them, the Raiders were calling on them, others were calling on them. There were any number of teams,” Schefter said about the teams calling the Rams about Stafford.
“And it’s so funny to me, because at that time, those teams, like any team trying to trade for a player, you want the best value possible. You want to give up the least amount of compensation. And so those teams would put together packages but generally speaking, with most of these teams, I remember the conversation being that the Rams wanted at least a second-round draft pick and then some,” Schefter continued.
“And teams were stuck on a third-round pick. Oh my God. And I get that you always want to squabble over picks and players, and you can’t always give in, but if it’s a quarterback, I always think you really can’t go wrong. And if it’s a proven future Hall of Fame quarterback, like Matthew Stafford, like what are we doing? OK, so you want the two, give them the two.”
Could the Raiders have traded a second-round pick for Stafford?
It’s possible, but Schefter didn’t want to say for sure.
Considering how high the Raiders drafted in the second round, it sounds like they probably could have made it work, but that might be reading into his comments a little.
“You remember the Rams announced all of a sudden that they were bringing back Matthew Stafford the Friday of the combine. And that was after a couple of weeks of intense conversations with a lot of different teams. What I’m saying to you generally is that the majority of these teams were tiptoeing around it and trying to get a value deal on Matthew Stafford. That’s what I’m saying” Schefter said.
“By the way, I could say to you now, if I were one of those teams, they’re arguing over seconds and thirds and other picks. Who the hell cares? Here’s my first-round pick for Matthew Stafford, okay? Do I think that would have gotten the deal done for Matthew Stafford at one point in time? Absolutely.”
“Nobody stepped up to do that. So now you look at it, how would Stafford have fit in with any one of those teams that talked to the Rams about a potential trip? How would that have worked out for any one of those teams’ first round picks?”
A report in March said the Rams would have taken the Raiders’ second-round pick in exchange for Stafford
It’s water under the bridge now, but a couple of reports in March (which seems like a long time ago now) suggested Stafford was available to the Raiders for their second-round pick.
“The Raiders were not going to give up the No. 6 pick, league sources said, but a second-round pick may have done it once the Rams knew Stafford wanted out,” The Athletic’s Vic Tafur and Tashan Reed reported.
A few days later, Raider Nation Radio host Q Myers confirmed Tafur’s report, but added that he heard the Rams would have taken a second-round pick from the Raiders for Stafford.
“I was told they were asking for a [first-round pick]. The Raiders said ‘No.’ I was told that they were asking for a [second-round pick]. The Raiders said ‘No,” Myers said on the Locked On Raiders Podcast.
Would Stafford have changed the trajectory of the Raiders’ 2025 season?
The reality of the situation is the Raiders weren’t ready to compete this year, regardless of the quarterback situation.
The more we learn about the dynamic between Chip Kelly and Pete Carroll, adding Stafford would have only cost the Raiders more money and more picks to figure out they need to hit the reset button again on the roster and potentially the coaching staff.
Additionally, listening to Stafford’s wife complaining about the Raiders every week on her podcast isn’t something the Raider Nation needed anyway.
We can do that alright without her.
x: @raidersbeat
OMG. Stafford would have been a broken taco shell by week 3 behind our line. On a positive note we would have been able to find how many sacks Pickett could have withstood between weeks 4 and 13!
Stafford???? He’d of been on injured reserve after the first quarter of the first game of the season.
So we could have had Stafford instead of Jack Bech, and still had the 3rd they traded for Geno the dud Smith… **** hindsight show why the Raiders can’t get right. Lifetime fan…..