Matthew Stafford is one of the most underrated and underappreciated players of this generation.
Don’t get me wrong – the vast majority of people know that he’s a great quarterback and a virtual lock to make the Hall of Fame.
However, despite that recognition, you get the sense that many people don’t understand just how special of a player he’s been for all of these years.
He’ll be forever loved in Detroit. The perfect fairytale would have been for Stafford to stay in Detroit and win a Super Bowl with the Lions.
However, the fact of the matter is it took for him to be traded to the Los Angeles Rams for him to finally crack through and hoist a Lombardi.
Remarkably, if you ask most Lions fans, they are more than happy with how the trade turned out. After all, Jared Goff is well on his way towards being every bit as beloved as Stafford was.
There’s a strong chance that the Stafford-Goff trade will go down as one of the most even trades in NFL history. Both sides truly won – and that’s something that’s rarely ever the case.
Besides being one of the best quarterbacks in recent memory, another thing most people know about Stafford is that he’s married to his college-sweetheart, Kelly.
Their relationship dates back to their Georgia days where Stafford was the big man on campus in Athens. Meanwhile, Kelly was a cheerleader for the Dawgs.
Interestingly, Kelly recently revealed that their relationship wasn’t always sunshine and rainbows.
Appearing on the “Off the Vine” podcast, she shared some candid details about their early days together.
Kelly admitted that she dated Matthew’s backup quarterback at Georgia strictly to provoke jealousy from his future husband.
“Long story short, it wasn’t that cute of a relationship at first. I hated him. I loved him. I dated the backup to piss him off, which worked,” she said.
“He was the bad boy too,” Kelly said of the backup. “Matthew is so sweet and southern gentleman and the backup was the complete opposite.”
“They lived in the same dorm because athletes lived in the same dorm and he would see my car there. So, at one point, he waited and followed me out to my car and got in my car and wouldn’t get out.”
“He was like, ‘He’s not right for you.’ and I was like, ‘You can’t tell me that. Get the f*ck out of my car … Meanwhile, he’s dating like 12/10s, supermodels.”
“I was coming out of high school. I was in a long relationship in high school. So I was like, ‘You know, I want to take my time,’” Kelly explained of her mindset at the time.
“We met, talked all night, had a really good time. But he was a quarterback of an SEC college,” she said of Stafford.
Despite the rocky start, Kelly and Matthew’s relationship evolved, and they eventually married in 2015.
The loving couple now has four daughters: 6-year-old twins Chandler and Sawyer, Hunter, 5, and Tyler, 3.
Reflecting on their journey, Kelly joked: “It was a lot of back and forth. I think if you ask anyone who knew us at Georgia if they thought we would’ve ended up together with four kids, they would’ve laughed their asses off.”
Needless to say, internet detectives got right on the case to try and figure out who the backup quarterback was that Kelly referred to.
It seems like we have four suspects on our hands…
(Logan Gray #19, Blake Barnes #15, Matthew Stafford #7, Jonathan deLaureal #17 and Joe Cox #14 of the Georgia Bulldogs pose for a photo after their 41-10 win over Hawaii in the Allstate Sugar Bowl at the Louisiana Superdome on January 1, 2008.)
“Logan Gray is the unnamed backup qb that Kelly Stafford is referencing having dated at UGA to make Matthew jealous, not Joe Cox … I don’t personally care, but I knew Joe’s wife in college and she’s a great lady. I’ve already seen a few off color tweets about it, so share this info,” one user posted on X.
“So I did some insta lurking … Considering the backup QB, Joe Cox, was already dating his future wife at the time (cheerleader at UGA), I’m thinking Kelly was referring to 3rd string QB Logan Gray, Who was the same class as her (freshmen when Matt was a senior). This is our suspect,” another user agreed.
What are your thoughts on Kelly’s tactics?
More importantly, what are your thoughts on Stafford’s career?
Do you agree that he’s one of the best quarterbacks in recent memory? … Do you feel that he’s been underrated and underappreciated?
Speaking of which, the Rams have been flying under the radar this offseason … Do you think Stafford and Sean McVay will make some noise this coming season???