As our Tom E. Curran reported Sunday, Matthew Stafford had no interest in being traded to the New England Patriots.
Why might that be, you ask? There are a number of reasons -- one of which Stafford's former teammate may have touched on Monday.
Offensive lineman T.J. Lang played for Detroit in 2017 and 2018 and was Stafford's Lions teammate for the final year of Jim Caldwell's tenure and the first of head coach Matt Patricia's regime.
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According to Lang, playing for Patricia took a toll on the veteran quarterback.
"His last couple years in Detroit, I think he was just so mentally and physically drained, and I don’t hold that against him because the last regime was really tough," Lang told 97.1 The Ticket's "Stoney & Jansen Show" on Monday.
Guess who's back in New England as an assistant coach this season after six years as its defensive coordinator? Patricia.
New England Patriots
So, it's certainly possible that Stafford didn't want to play for a coaching staff featuring Patricia and Bill Belichick, whose demanding program Patricia tried to emulate in Detroit with disastrous results.
Add in the cold New England weather and the Patriots' dismal outlook after a 7-9 season with the NFL's 27th-ranked offense, and you can see why Stafford preferred sunny Los Angeles, where he'll play for bright offensive mind Sean McVay on a talented Rams squad.
Patriots fans are right to wonder if Stafford's other former teammates feel the same way. Lions wide receivers Kenny Golladay and Marvin Jones Jr. both are free agents this offseason and both could help New England's woeful offense. (The Patriots have "liked" Jones "for a while," according to NESN.com's Doug Kyed.) But it's possible they could have similar reservations about playing in a challenging environment that's far less likely to yield success in the post-Tom Brady era.
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So, as Curran wrote Sunday, Belichick and his staff "will have to work a little harder and pay a little more than it has" this offseason to lure talent to Foxboro.