The draft night the Stafford and Watson blockbusters collided

In January 2021, Matthew Stafford walked into Lions president Rod Wood's office, asked to speak privately, got emotional, and asked out. "I just want to be traded and I don't want to go through another regime change," Stafford said, according to Wood. Then he added the sentence that frames everything Detroit got back: "I hope I can go someplace where I can win a Super Bowl, and I hope you can get enough for me that you can win one a couple years later."²

Stafford had one condition for his destination. "What's accurate is — and this is an incredible thing by [the Lions] — I asked to go to a team that was ready to win a championship," he told the Detroit Free Press.¹

On January 30, 2021, the Lions obliged: Stafford to the Los Angeles Rams for Jared Goff, a 2021 third-rounder, and first-rounders in 2022 and 2023. The deal became official on March 17, at the start of the league year.

Goff learned about it by phone, blindsided. "You feel like you've been betrayed, or like you're not wanted," he said years later on Netflix's "Quarterback."³

Stafford got his wish immediately — a Super Bowl LVI title in his first season in Los Angeles.¹³ Detroit's half of the deal paid off slower, and bigger. The supposed throw-in quarterbacked the Lions to their first NFC Championship Game since the 1991 season. The 2021 third-rounder (No. 101) became defensive back Ifeatu Melifonwu. The 2022 first-rounder (No. 32) was packaged with two more picks to trade up for Jameson Williams.⁹ And the 2023 first-rounder — the last unpaid installment of the Stafford trade — is where this story collides with the decade's other blockbuster.

Fourteen months later, Cleveland went all-in

On March 18, 2022, the Browns acquired Deshaun Watson from Houston: Watson plus a 2024 sixth-rounder for three first-round picks (2022, 2023, 2024), a 2022 fourth, a 2023 third, and a 2024 fourth — and then a fully guaranteed five-year, $230 million contract, the largest guarantee in NFL history.⁵ "All of us were on board," GM Andrew Berry said of the decision.⁴ Houston GM Nick Caserio called the return "the right move for our organization."⁵

Cleveland's 2023 first-rounder went to Houston in that package. Thirteen months later, Houston spent it — or rather, spent the right to spend it — in the most chaotic hour of the 2023 draft.

April 27, 2023: the hour everything crossed

Houston had already taken C.J. Stroud at No. 2. Then the Texans traded up to No. 3 with Arizona — sending the Cardinals No. 12 (Cleveland's pick, via the Watson deal), No. 33, and first- and third-rounders in 2024 — to draft edge rusher Will Anderson Jr.⁶

Arizona, suddenly holding No. 12, flipped it within the hour. The Cardinals sent No. 12, No. 34, and No. 168 to Detroit for No. 6 and No. 81.⁷ The Cardinals' draft-room cameras caught GM Monti Ossenfort haggling with Brad Holmes live on the phone: "You guys picking here or what are you thinking? Yeah, I think we'd do 34, and then we would need something back....No, no we wouldn't do a '24 one."⁸ Holmes had tried to pry Arizona's 2024 first-rounder loose. Ossenfort refused.

Follow the custody chains and the two mega-trees grow straight into each other:

No. 6 → Paris Johnson Jr. The pick began in Los Angeles — the final first-rounder of the Stafford deal. Detroit held it for two years, then sent it to Arizona, who drafted Ohio State tackle Paris Johnson Jr.⁷

No. 12 → Jahmyr Gibbs. The pick began in Cleveland — one of the three first-rounders in the Watson deal. Cleveland → Houston → Arizona → Detroit in thirteen months. The Lions drafted Alabama running back Jahmyr Gibbs, who became the engine of their offense.⁷

No. 34 → Sam LaPorta. Arizona's own second-rounder, thrown into the swap. Detroit drafted Iowa tight end Sam LaPorta — and Gibbs and LaPorta both made the Pro Bowl, two cornerstones out of a single trade-down.¹¹

No. 81 → Tyjae Spears. Detroit's own third-rounder went to Arizona in the swap, then to Tennessee the next night (packaged with No. 33) for Nos. 41, 72, and a 2024 third. The Titans drafted Tulane running back Tyjae Spears at No. 81.¹⁰

No. 168 → Owen Pappoe. Arizona's fifth-rounder went to Detroit in the swap — then straight back to Arizona the next day, when the Lions packaged Nos. 122, 139, and 168 to move up for defensive tackle Brodric Martin at No. 96. Arizona drafted linebacker Owen Pappoe at No. 168.⁹

Why this is the whole point of trade trees

In isolation, the Stafford trade is "a quarterback for a quarterback and picks," and the Watson trade is "a quarterback for a mountain of picks." But picks are currency — they get re-spent. Thirteen months after the Watson deal, Cleveland's first-rounder was being spent by Detroit on a running back. Two years after the Stafford deal, the Rams' first-rounder was being spent by Arizona on a tackle.

Stafford asked Wood for enough in return that Detroit could "win one a couple years later."² The return became Goff, Melifonwu, Williams, Gibbs, and LaPorta — the core of the team that reached the NFC Championship Game for the first time since the 1991 season, with Goff and Gibbs starring in the win that got them there.¹²

Two blockbusters, one draft night, five starters. That's what the trees are for.

Explore the full chains:

Trade terms, teams, and dates verified against the site's trade trees and cross-checked with the sources below.

Sources

Explore the trade tree behind this story:

About this article: it was drafted with AI assistance from the Football Trade Trees database and public reporting, then reviewed by a human editor. Spot an error? Email [email protected].