Davante Adams shares bold take about Matthew Stafford's legacy - Rams Wire

Matthew Stafford's career has been a two-part story. His time with the Detroit Lions, as special as it was for him, was marred by the team's underachievement and failure to surround Stafford with talent – particularly on defense. Stafford never won a playoff game, nor did the Lions ever win the NFC North with him at quarterback.

But as soon as he was traded to the Los Angeles Rams, Stafford started winning. In just five years with the Rams, Stafford has made the playoffs four times, won a Super Bowl and been voted league MVP.

It's led many to wonder what his career would look like had he played for Sean McVay and the Rams his entire career. Davante Adams, for one, is confident that Stafford would be in the discussion as the greatest quarterback of all time had that been the case.

“To be honest, I think we’d be talking about him as maybe the greatest quarterback of all time," Adams said the "Pat McAfee Show" Tuesday. "The tough part about being a quarterback in this league is so much of your success and how good you are and how legendary you become is based off of winning. And obviously, you start in a place like Detroit where they weren’t winning at the rate that the Rams have been since he’s been here since 2021. If his whole career had been here with a guy like Sean, they’d be saying, ‘Is this guy literally the best quarterback that’s ever played?’"

It's a bold take, but given the amount of success Stafford has had in five short years, it's hard not to wonder what could have been.

There's no question he was at fault for some of the Lions' shortcomings. He wasn't always perfect in Detroit, turning the ball over too often at times. But from 2009-2020, the Lions only had one season in which their defense ranked better than 13th in points allowed. That was in 2014 when Detroit went 11-5 and made the playoffs.

Having seen Stafford up close for the last year-plus, Adams has come to appreciate the subtle nuances to Stafford's game – specifically his no-look passes, the way he holds safeties with his eyes and throws receivers open.

Adams has played with Aaron Rodgers and now Stafford, so he knows an all-time great when he sees one. And he has nothing but respect for the way Stafford plays quarterback.