Getty Sean McVay during the Rams' June 2022 minicamp.
By now NFL fans witnessed how Sean McVay celebrated the Super Bowl 56 victory with the Los Angeles Rams — from the jubilation, the cheers, the champagne and celebrating with those closest to him.
But here’s what many may not know following that game, which McVay revealed on his appearance on Mike Silver’s Open Mike podcast: He received a stunning, out-of-the-blue text message from someone from his past…let alone someone many once felt had a difficult split from McVay.
That text? It came via the Detroit Lions and their franchise quarterback and Ex-Ram Jared Goff.
McVay Shares What That Moment Was Like in Receiving the Text
Ram fans and NFL fans know about the falling out McVay and Goff had which eventually led to the arrival of Matthew Stafford. That trade gamble resulted in the Rams winning the Super Bowl and giving both McVay and Stafford their first rings.
But McVay shared that one of the best moments post Super Bowl was receiving the surprise from Goff himself, who lined up at quarterback from McVay from 2017 to 2020.
“The thing that shows what a stud and what a class act he really is, is one of the best text messages I got after the Super Bowl was from Jared Goff,” he told Silver. “The further we get away, the more appreciation we’ll have for the great four years we did have together because it was a lot of really good times. He’s a special guy, very good football player that does a great job for the Lions.”
McVay also gave an evaluation of how Goff fared in his first season in the Motor City.
“I thought he played really well down the stretch,” McVay said.
He did add what he hopes to see moving forward for Goff and the Lions.
“You get some guys around him, (former Ram) Josh Reynolds, but all in all, better communication and better clarity is what I would’ve wanted,” McVay said.
McVay Dives Further Into the Trade
McVay pointed out last year that the trade between Stafford and Goff came with fast moving parts.
And for McVay, it got him to realize his regret in not handling the trade the way he would’ve hoped.
“That was a hard thing for me,” McVay said. “Because the thing that’s more important to me, than anything, is being a good communicator. (Being) clear, open and honest and making sure people aren’t caught off guard and really having respect for the players and the coaches and what they have to do. I wish that there had been better in-person communication.”
He also added what hurt him in his severance of ties with Goff.
“The one thing that hurt me is that I would never want anything to be misunderstood about is my appreciation, my respect for Jared. Was it a tough decision? Yes. Were there some things that I could’ve handled better in terms of the clarity provided for him? No doubt,” McVay said.
And how would he have done things differently?
“If I had it over again, what I would do is, before I had even gone to Cabo, when there was a possibility of, alright, if Matthew Stafford’s available, if there’s other quarterbacks available, that would be something that we would explore — you sit down with him (Goff), you look him in the eye, you tell him that instead of calling him and setting up a meeting where that was my intention when I got back from Cabo,” McVay explained.
McVay included how he still cares about Goff and how he “sure as hell did a lot of good things.”