Sean McVay again admits he could have handled Jared Goff's departure better

The move happened so quickly that it seemed to catch Jared Goff off-guard. He was traded to the Detroit Lions, as the Los Angeles Rams seemingly added an extra first-round pick to the deal to get Matthew Stafford in order to compel the Lions to take Goff off their hands.

Ahead of Goff's return to L.A. to play the Rams in his first season as a Lion, Rams head coach Sean McVay expressed regret about how he handled Goff's departure. Goff didn't seem to have time for that regret, as expected.

In 2022, seemingly unprompted specifically, McVay again publicly expressed regret over how he handled Goff's departure while acknowledging how fast things happened with the possibility to acquire Stafford.

Goff has tried to set aside any "revenge" angle he might have against the Rams and McVay this week, heading into the Wild Card game between the two teams Sunday night. As for McVay, he has again expressed regret over how he handled his former quarterback's exit.

Sean McVay again acknowledges regret over how he handled Jared Goff's departure

On Wednesday, McVay reflected on Goff's time with the Rams and again acknowledged regret about how he handled Goff's exit.

"Could it have been handled better on my end?'' McVay said. "Absolutely. And I'll never run away from that. He deserved better than the way that it all went down. I'll acknowledge that. And I think he knows that, too.''

In November, to Peter King of NBC Sports, Goff confirmed how he wanted to still do his exit meeting with McVay after the trade.

"We spent four years together and he traded me on a phone call. So, I did wanna talk to him face to face. You know? That was half of it."
"But yeah, I did want to know what I could do better and where to improve. He was honest. It was a long conversation. There was a lot that came out of it. It was good. Got some clarity. Don’t know if I got all the clarity, but I got some.”

In the end, the Stafford-Goff trade worked out for both sides. But McVay can't quite let go of the regret about his role in handling the move, even if it still probably won't quite register meaningfully with his former quarterback.