Sean McVay on working with Matthew Stafford: 'Really been a great collaboration'
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theramswire.usatoday.com]
Cameron DaSilva
The Los Angeles Rams agreed to acquire Matthew Stafford in a blockbuster trade with the Detroit Lions way back on January 30. They couldn’t officially comment on the trade or announce it until March 17 when the new league year began.
Sean McVay and Stafford haven’t had a ton of time to work together, especially given the long-distance nature of the offseason. OTAs won’t begin until May 24-25, which is when the team will finally get on the field together, followed by mandatory minicamp a month later from June 15-17.
But McVay and Stafford have done their best to get acclimated as the Rams transition to a new leader under center. McVay was asked recently on Mad Dog Radio how Stafford will fit in the Rams offense and how he’ll take advantage of the weapons he has around him.
While that’s still unclear, McVay says it’s been a great collaboration so far with Stafford.
“I think it’s to be determined,” McVay said. “There’s nothing like getting out on the field, working with these guys, getting feedback. You’ve heard me say before, but it all starts with the quarterback. Our offense is going to have him in mind with everything that we do, first and foremost. So you’re going to see some stuff that reflected in a lot of the success that he’s had in Detroit. We would be silly not to implement these things. There’s a lot of concept carryover. He’s had a lot of great experiences with some really great coordinators in different systems, so the inventory that he can draw on, we might call one thing six and he calls it half a dozen somewhere else, but it’s all the same thing. He’s able to communicate that and it’s really been a great collaboration of putting this thing together and ultimately, can’t wait to get out on the field and really work with these guys.”
Stafford is a terrific leader and based on the way things look right now on paper, he’s going to be a perfect fit in the offense. he has a big arm, which McVay will undoubtedly want to take advantage of with deep shots to DeSean Jackson and Tutu Atwell.
Stafford is also one of the best quarterbacks when the play breaks down, finding ways to extend the play by either moving subtly to avoid pressure in the pocket or by escaping and picking up yards with his legs.
Learning McVay’s offense in a virtual offseason so far will present challenges for the veteran quarterback, but once the team gets out there for OTAs, minicamp and eventually training camp, it should be a seamless transition for Stafford.
