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Health

Ending Friendships, Canceling Plans — People Told Us How They’re Dealing With Unvaccinated Friends

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Even though COVID-19 vaccines are widely available to most American adults, some are still refusing to get a shot even as the highly contagious Delta variant rips across the country. The overwhelming majority of new COVID-19 cases in the US are among the unvaccinated. The same is true for COVID-related hospitalizations and deaths.

But the summer spike has led some parts of the US to reintroduce mask mandates even for those who’ve had their doses. It’s no wonder that fully vaccinated people are fed up.

Even Jennifer Aniston has cut people out of her life who refuse to get vaccinated. ​​“I feel it’s your moral and professional obligation to inform, since we’re not all podded up and being tested every single day,” she said.

BuzzFeed News asked readers to share how they’re dealing with unvaccinated friends. We received hundreds of responses that detailed a range of experiences, from people ending friendships altogether to choosing to uninvite loved ones from weddings and parties. But more than anything, we heard stories of frustration and sadness, revealing how COVID-19 has transformed not just the country, but our social structures, too.

Note: Responses have been edited for clarity and style. Some people asked only to be identified by their first name or to remain anonymous.

Cutting them off

I have lost two friends because of vaccine differences. I’m fully vaccinated and they are refusing to get the jab. We’ve stopped hanging out because it’s actually dangerous for me to be around them when they could be carrying the disease. I’ve tried telling them that there can’t be any long-term effects, it’s proven technology, but they won’t listen. They keep trying to show me these propaganda videos where there are apparently loads of top scientists and medical professionals speaking out against the vaccines but are being silenced. I know these people can’t be right because the vaccines are safe and effective. I don’t understand how they’ve been brainwashed by these scaremongerers. So we can’t hang out for safety reasons, as well as stress prevention reasons. It just gets nasty.
—Jay Maher, 25, London

I have had a friend since we were 2 years old. She thought COVID was fake and refused to wear a mask. Long story short, she tried to come to visit my 3-month-old daughter while being positive for COVID-19 and she didn’t even tell us until the day of. I told her not to bother coming and I haven’t talked to her since. —Caitlyn Ellis, 22, Connecticut

One of my best friends and I had a huge blow-up in summer 2020. It started with her posting about that “Plandemic” documentary online and that, for me, was crossing a line. I had been able to keep quiet and respect her beliefs about the medical industry until then, and I got really angry. It’s been an entire year and we have barely spoken since. We had been best friends since 2005, so it’s been really hard. I thought I could talk some sense into her. It turns out I was wrong. She and her entire family are anti-vax, so they absolutely will not get the COVID vaccine. The whole fight ended with her telling me to never speak to her again and then blocking me on social media. It’s extremely awkward between us now because we are also part of a group of six women in a group chat. We “play nice” but barely speak to each other. I am unsure what will happen when we eventually see each other in person again, but I’m sure we’ll both be cordial. At this point, I have realized that there will be no getting through to her and the harder I try, the more she’ll push back. I’ve come to terms with it. Not all friendships last forever and I guess this is where ours ended. —Brittany, 34, Wisconsin

A high school friend and I are no longer friends. She is an anti-vaxxer with a high school diploma who feels she knows “more about vaccines than the majority of medical professionals.” Yes, this is a direct quote. We dealt with the beginning of the pandemic well. She respected my wishes to be safe but was upset when I would not attend the dedication of her children to their new church. She accused me of having stopped living my life (because I had not been home in over a year). She is anti-mask and proud of it. She believes that she is only responsible for her own health and nobody else’s. I have always respected her beliefs and would never have gone against her wishes regarding her kids, but she would repeatedly come after me about mine, wanting to know what research I did because the guidelines from the WHO and CDC were not to be trusted. I finally told her that her views are such a slap in the face to everyone who has lost their lives during this pandemic and to those who have lost someone. We haven’t spoken since then and I am not sorry. It is such a weight off my shoulders to not have to tiptoe around my words for fear of setting her off. —Alexandra Leuthauser, 37, Iowa

Avoiding them

I will not see my friends who are not vaccinated. We met up early when the vaccines were rolling out and I brought up the conversation asking why they won’t get vaccinated and the response was because of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study. I got really angry and went and sat in the car until my husband and them finished happy hour.
—Rebecca, 38, California

A good friend from work refused to get vaccinated because she feels like it was “too rushed.” I sent her sources on why the different vaccines were able to be quickly formulated, information on funding, reliability, outcomes, side effects — everything I could think of. She just kept saying it was suspicious that a vaccine was developed so quickly, and that the “government was hiding something.” I told her I wouldn’t be around her without a mask and at least 6 feet of distance, and I wouldn’t come over for dinner or anything else. She said I had been brainwashed. I requested that my desk at work be moved and we haven’t spoken in three months. She still hasn’t gotten the vaccine. —Ronan Goforth, 25, Illinois

Awkwardness

One of my best friends from college hasn’t taken COVID seriously and has yet to be vaccinated. I cannot wrap my head around why she refuses to take steps to protect herself and others. This prompted me to do a lot of thinking, asking why she would be so resistant and willfully ignorant. It’s created a huge unspoken tension in my friend circle. We’ve all been taking the pandemic seriously and all know someone who has passed due to COVID. I have such a hard time reconciling her beliefs with the serious nature of this global pandemic. My friends and I are debating talking to her and addressing it directly, but we’re afraid that will lead to a blowup. It’s difficult to lose a friend to the spread of misinformation and fear-mongering.
—Catherine Zimmermann, 25, Indiana

I am a minor, which means some of my friends are also underage. Some of my friends’ parents currently aren’t allowing them to get vaccinated, which makes things difficult to say the least. Some people, whom I really love and miss, I currently can’t see normally, and with the new variants I am only trying to see my vaccinated friends.
—Trudy Poux, 16, New York

Uninviting them

I avoid talking about politics with my friends because it never ends well and then I will start having bad feelings toward them. I gave birth in November 2020 in Southern California. I was very careful my entire pregnancy so I couldn’t be happier when the vaccine was available. I got it as soon as I could. We traveled to Florida to see family and friends last month. I was excited for my closest friends to meet my baby except for one who didn’t get vaccinated. She tried so hard, but I just didn’t feel good about it. Never told her why and I still feel bad about it, but it wasn’t worth it.
—​​Daniela Gomez, 31, California

We haven’t cut off communication with our few unvaccinated friends, but we’ve made clear that we won’t be socializing in person until our young and asthmatic child is vaccinated. When one (potentially former) friend questioned our decision, we tersely reminded them of the three loved ones we’ve lost to COVID and the six relatives still fighting it. The pandemic has really improved my ability to be blunt and set boundaries. —Erica M., 35, Illinois

We recently moved back to the East Coast and have been happily visiting with old friends who we hadn’t seen in a while, both because of distance and COVID. Recently, we were supposed to see a good friend who I hadn’t seen in probably five years. It never even occurred to me to ask whether she was vaccinated until the day she was supposed to drive up, when she mentioned she was getting her first shot two days after we were going to see her. I was shocked. I immediately responded that while I would love to see her, it would have to wait until she was fully vaccinated. I have small children and it was just too dangerous. She was really put out and upset and I’m not sure where we stand now. I understand, but my children’s health is just too precious. —Anonymous, 39, New Jersey

We’ve told our unvaccinated friends that all visits will still be outside and distanced, and that they can’t hold our infant son. We make it clear that while their body is their choice, we won’t take risks with our family and our own lives. This is fine in the summer, but come the fall and winter, it’s going to mean not seeing them again for another six to eight months. It’s typically not awkward though; they respect our decision to get vaccinated and while we don’t agree with their decision to remain unvaccinated, we recognize that it’s their call. —Melanie, 34, Ontario

I am set to get married in November and we have decided to have a vaccinated wedding. People are coming from three different countries (COVID restrictions pending) and we have immunocompromised guests, so it seems irresponsible to not take as many precautions as we can. Out of 135 invited guests, only five are not vaxxed; two won’t come because they can’t get it due to allergies and cancer treatments; one is not vaxxed yet for unknown purposes but says she should be by the wedding; and the other two are my brother and his wife. My brother has accused me of accommodating and caring more for other people than caring about him and his family and respecting their wishes not to be vaccinated. My brother told me that I am falling into propaganda and that I only listen to what I am told to do. When my brother asked how the rest of our guests feel about being forced into medical decisions, I had to break it to him that he is the only person who cares. My brother has not told us yet if he will come to our wedding, so we will see if he accepts or declines. —Desiree, 33, California

Being patient

I have a friend who literally asked me if I was magnetic now after I got my second shot. I looked them right in their face and said, “You know that’s not true, right?” This is one of my closest friends and we couldn’t be more polar opposite on the vaccine. All of my family are vaccinated and none of hers are. I just give her grace and try to talk to her when she asks me questions. This is a deeply personal choice for a lot of people, and instead of being mean and nasty or berating someone who does not want to be vaccinated, I share truths and facts when she brings it up. It does no one any good if you can’t keep sharing the benefits. Eventually they will listen. I just hope it’s not too late.—Katrina, 43, Virginia

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Business

Robinhood Stock Sale Soured By Investor Confusion, Valuation Concern

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Robinhood Markets Inc.’s

HOOD 0.95%

bid to revolutionize IPOs has created losses for investors instead, after one of the year’s most highly anticipated listings fell flat.

In a regulatory filing in early July, the trading platform’s co-founders said they would open their initial public offering to customers on equal terms with institutional investors. They said they recognized it may be the first IPO many would participate in, and pledged to “never sacrifice the safety of our customers’ money.”

It now appears Robinhood’s commitment to “democratizing” the IPO process played a role in the offering’s big initial stumble Thursday. An innovative auction system sowed some confusion among investors, many already suspicious of the valuation of a business that has drawn scrutiny from regulators and criticism from customers, people involved in the process said.

The stock, initially priced at $38, the bottom of the target range, sits below that. It is a disappointing result at a time when IPOs are booming and investor appetite for new issues is robust.

Robinhood proudly tore up the traditional IPO playbook. It insisted a large chunk of its stock—in the end up to 25%—go to its individual-investor customers compared with the normal retail allocation of well under 10%. It said employees could sell a portion of their stock right away instead of being locked up for six months. And when it came to determining the price of its IPO, Robinhood decided to use a hybrid-auction process, which attempts to assign shares to investors based on what they are willing to pay, regardless of who they are.

Robinhood co-founder Baiju Bhatt, in gray suit, and CEO and co-founder Vladimir Tenev in the Wall Street area of New York City on Thursday.

The hybrid auction has worked in other IPOs in the past year. In typical listings, underwriters give their investor clients updates throughout the roadshow—the seven- to 10-day period in which a company pitches its stock. These updates typically include guidance on how much demand bankers are seeing for the shares and the rough price they ultimately expect to set.

In this case the company and lead underwriters

Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

and

JPMorgan Chase

& Co. gave few such updates, people familiar with the matter said. When some large investors called the other underwriters on the deal, some of those bankers pleaded ignorance.

The opaqueness of the process sowed suspicion among some investors who assumed the deal was going poorly and adjusted their orders accordingly, investors and bankers said.

Many had already expressed concern about how much of Robinhood’s revenue comes from a controversial practice called payment-for-order-flow, which the Securities and Exchange Commission is reviewing, people who attended the roadshow said. Others questioned what they saw as the high valuation the eight-year-old company was seeking—in excess of $30 billion.

Another concern: whether Robinhood’s controversial decision earlier this year to stop users from buying meme stocks like

GameStop Corp.

would prompt some to eschew the offering.

Wednesday night, as bankers met with Robinhood Chief Executive

Vlad Tenev

to set the price, some investors said they were only told it would be within the $38 to $42 target range. This surprised many large institutions, who are used to more guidance heading into a pricing meeting.

A Robinhood IPO event in Times Square.

An unusually large percentage of shares were set to be allocated to hedge funds, which are more likely to “flip” IPO stock on the first day of trading, according to people close to the deal. To bring in more of the biggest institutional funds who are viewed as “buy-and-hold” investors, Robinhood chose $38 a share instead of the higher price some funds were willing to pay.

The company and Goldman felt comfortable that the lower price was conservative enough that the shares would rise on their first day of trading, especially given the buzz around Robinhood in the lead-up to the listing, according to people close to the deal.

Instead, the stock opened at $38 a share, unusual at a time when big initial pops for hot IPOs are more the norm. It rose higher briefly, touching $40 before dropping through the IPO price. It closed down 8.4% Thursday before recovering slightly Friday.

The brokerage app Robinhood has transformed retail trading. WSJ explains its rise amid a series of legal investigations and regulatory challenges. Photo illustration: Jacob Reynolds/WSJ

Robinhood’s Stock Market Debut

Write to Corrie Driebusch at corrie.driebusch@wsj.com

Copyright ©2021 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8

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Business

Nasdaq to Spin Out Market for Pre-IPO Shares in Deal With Banks

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Nasdaq Inc. is teaming up with a group of banks including Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley to spin out its marketplace for shares of private companies.

The deal could help drive more transactions to Nasdaq Private Market, the New York-based exchange operator’s trading platform for shares of companies that haven’t yet had an initial public offering.

Trading in pre-IPO shares has heated up in recent years as startups have waited longer to go public. Employees of such companies often seek to cash out of their shares, while investors may want to get in on a fast-growing technology startup.

Under the deal, Nasdaq Private Market will be moved into a separate, stand-alone company that will receive investments from a group of banks. The group includes Citigroup Inc., Goldman, Morgan Stanley and SVB Financial Group , owner of Silicon Valley Bank. The companies announced the deal Tuesday after it was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.

Terms of the transaction weren’t disclosed. Nasdaq said it would remain the joint venture’s largest shareholder.

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Business

Bitcoin Fraud Concerns Draw Scrutiny From Regulators

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Regulators are signaling they want more control over an expanded cryptocurrency universe that has pushed further into Wall Street activities without the investor and consumer protections that apply to traditional securities and financial services.

The catch: no single regulator inspects crypto exchanges or brokers, unlike in the securities and derivatives markets. Regulators step in only when they believe U.S. law applies to a particular cryptocurrency or transaction, based on the way the asset was sold or traded.

Once a quirky asset that required navigating special exchanges to buy, cryptocurrencies can now be easily purchased on mobile apps from PayPal Holdings Inc., Square Inc.’s Cash app and Robinhood Markets Inc.

“A lot more money is being put into it, there is a lot of trading and the uses seem to be expanding,” said Dan Berkovitz, a commissioner on the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. “I see a concern about whether we have a shadow financial system developing, and that should be a question for all of the regulators.”

Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler has told House lawmakers that investor protection rules should apply to crypto exchanges, similar to those that cover equities and derivatives. Regulated exchanges are required by law to have rules that prevent fraud and promote fairness. But crypto exchanges face no such standard, Mr. Gensler said at the Piper Sandler Global Exchange and FinTech conference last month.

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Business

Robinhood Agrees to Pay $70 Million to Settle Regulatory Investigation

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WASHINGTON—Robinhood Financial LLC has agreed to pay nearly $70 million to resolve sweeping regulatory allegations that the brokerage misled customers, approved ineligible traders for risky strategies and didn’t supervise technology that failed and locked millions out of trading.

The enforcement action is a blow to the fast-growing online brokerage, which was launched in 2014 and has won over users with commission-free trades and its sleek mobile app. The company took on millions of new customers and attracted more scrutiny this year as many investors accessed Robinhood to speculate on so-called meme stocks such as GameStop Corp. and AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. Its forthcoming initial public offering is one of the most anticipated of the year.

Robinhood’s growth has continued, with its biggest source of revenue, stemming from customer trading, more than tripling in the first quarter, even as many customers complained about its technology snafus and limited customer service. It enraged clients earlier this year when it restricted trading in some popular stocks that had become so volatile that Robinhood’s clearinghouse told the brokerage to post billions of dollars in additional collateral.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, the front-line inspector of broker-dealers, unveiled the settlement Wednesday. Robinhood neither admitted nor denied the claims.

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Business

Goldman, Morgan Stanley Limit Losses With Fast Sale of Archegos Assets

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Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley were quick to move large blocks of assets before other large banks that traded with Archegos Capital Management, as the scale of the hedge fund’s losses became apparent, according to people with knowledge of the transactions. The strategy helped limit the U.S. firms’ losses in last week’s epic stock liquidation, they said.

Losses at Archegos, run by former Tiger Asia manager Bill Hwang, have triggered the liquidation in excess of $30 billion in value. Banks were continuing to sell blocks of stocks linked to Archegos Monday, traders said.

“This is a challenging time for the family office of Archegos Capital Management, our partners and employees. All plans are being discussed as Mr. Hwang and the team determine the best path forward,” a company spokeswoman said in a statement Monday evening.

Archegos took big, concentrated positions in companies and held some positions in a mix of stock and swaps. Swaps are a common arrangement in which a trader gets access to the returns generated by a portfolio of shares or other assets in exchange for a fee.

Losses threatened to spill over into the so-called prime brokerage businesses that have been handling the firm’s trading. The group of large Wall Street banks includes Goldman, Morgan, Credit Suisse Group AG, Nomura Holdings Inc., UBS Group AG and Deutsche Bank AG , said people familiar with the firm’s trading.

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Business

GameStop Investors Who Bet Big—and Lost Big

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Salvador Vergara was so enthusiastic about

GameStop Corp.

GME 2.54%

in late January that he took out a $20,000 personal loan and used it to purchase shares. Then the buzzy stock plunged nearly 80%.

GameStop’s volatile ride is hitting the portfolios of individual investors like Mr. Vergara who purchased the stock in a social-media-fueled frenzy. These casual traders say GameStop was their “YOLO,” or “you only live once,” trade. They bought around its late January peak, betting it would continue its astronomical climb. While some cashed out before it crashed, others who hung onto their shares are in the red.

‘I thought it could go up to $1,000. I really believed in that hype, which was an awful thing to do,’ Mr. Vergara says.



Photo:

Farrah Skeiky for the Wall Street Journal

Mr. Vergara, a 25-year-old security guard in Virginia, started investing four years ago after deciding he wanted to retire young. To save money, he drives a 1998 Honda Civic, eats a lot of rice and lives with his dad. He stashed his savings mostly in diversified index funds, which are now valued at about $50,000. Then Mr. Vergara, a longtime reader of the WallStreetBets page on Reddit, saw others posting about buying GameStop shares and the stock’s colossal rise.

He didn’t want to touch his index-fund investments, so instead he got a personal loan with an 11.19% interest rate from a credit union and used it to fund most of his GameStop purchase. He bought shares at $234 each.

Price return, year to date, 30-minute intervals

Source: FactSet

GameStop shares started the year around $19, zoomed to nearly $350 (and almost hit $500 in intraday trading) in late January, and then began to spiral back to earth. The shares closed Friday at $52.40, down 85% from the peak close.

“I thought it could go up to $1,000. I really believed in that hype, which was an awful thing to do,” Mr. Vergara said.

He plans to hold on to the shares because he believes in the company’s turnaround, he said, and use his paycheck to cover the monthly payments on the personal loan. Once the pandemic is over, he hopes to move back to his native Philippines, live off savings and start a charity. The GameStop loss set those plans back about six months, he said.

One of the artworks by Tony Moy, whose bet on GameStop stock has lost much of its value, is inspired by ‘diamond hands,’ a phrase used to describe hanging onto your position, no matter what.



Photo:

Matt Moy

Free trading and simple-to-use apps have made it much easier for regular investors to pour money into stocks like GameStop. In a world without international travel, live entertainment and other usual pastimes, brokerage apps such as Robinhood Markets Inc. are drawing hordes of new users looking for both a diversion and a jackpot.

Before the pandemic, Patrick Wesolowski checked his portfolio once a week. Then the clients of his Chicago-area dog-walking business stopped taking vacations and started working from home, crimping his income and leaving him with lots of free time.

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With business sluggish, the 31-year-old started spending more time researching stocks to include in his $15,000 portfolio. He “lurked” on WallStreetBets, reading about other investors’ wild bets but not posting much himself. “It’s like reading ‘Florida Man’ news headlines with a Wall Street twist,” he said.

In recent months, Mr. Wesolowski found himself picking up his smartphone to check his Fidelity Investments brokerage-account balance more often. He followed the frenzy around GameStop, and when shares were approaching $300 decided to put in $3,000. Afterward, he checked his portfolio on his phone every 10 minutes. At first, watching the stock drop made him feel queasy, but then he got used to it.

“If I lose it, I lose it. I’m OK. It’s like going to Vegas,” Mr. Wesolowski said. If he still had that money, he said, he might have put it toward a personal splurge like a vacation.

Patrick Wesolowski spent more time researching stocks after the pandemic hurt his dog-walking business and bought $3,000 of GameStop shares.



Photo:

Ola Wazny

For many, GameStop represented more than just an investment. When Tony Moy bought about $1,200 of the shares, two at $379 and two more a few days later at $228, “I knew it was, intrinsically, the wrong move,” he said.

Mr. Moy wasn’t surprised when the stock quickly lost much of its value. A casual reader of WallStreetBets, he was mostly excited about the push to stick hedge funds with losses. Some hedge funds that shorted the stock—betting the price would fall—suffered big losses, though others managed to make money during the turmoil.

The trade was an outlet for Mr. Moy’s frustrations after an abysmal year, a “virtual protest” of sorts, he said. In 2020, after the pandemic shut down large gatherings, the Chicago-based artist lost most of his income from selling his work at comic conventions. He also came down with a bad case of Covid-19 that left him coughing for months. He said his more successful investing endeavors have helped him get by financially.

One of Mr. Moy’s most recent works of art is inspired by “diamond hands,” a phrase used on Reddit to describe hanging onto your position, no matter what. He is keeping his GameStop shares as a memento. “It’s going to be a little reminder to me,” he said, “of how 2020 was the year when hedge funds had a great year and everyone else was struggling.”

The recent run-up in GameStop and other stocks involved investors in opposing camps: traditional Wall Street firms and small investors bucking the system. WSJ asked the same questions to one of each about the role of WallStreetBets in the trading frenzy. Photo Illustration: Carlos Waters

Write to Rachel Louise Ensign at rachel.ensign@wsj.com

Copyright ©2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8

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Sports

Detroit Lions dealing Matthew Stafford to Los Angeles Rams for Jared Goff, picks, sources say

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10:04 PM ET

  • Michael Rothstein

    Close
    ESPN Staff Writer
    • Previously covered University of Michigan for ESPN.com and AnnArbor.com
    • Also covered Notre Dame for Fort Wayne Journal Gazette

  • Lindsey Thiry

    Close
    ESPN
    • Covered Rams for two years for Los Angeles Times
    • Previously covered the Falcons
    • Has covered the NBA and college football and basketball

Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford is heading to the Los Angeles Rams in exchange for quarterback Jared Goff and a multitude of draft picks, sources told ESPN’s Adam Schefter on Saturday night.

The Lions will receive a third-round pick in 2021, a first-round pick in 2022 and a first-round pick in 2023 in what is the first exchange of former No. 1 overall picks in the common draft era (since 1967). The deal cannot be made official until the start of the new league year on March 17.

Following news of the trade, the Rams’ Super Bowl odds for the 2021 season moved from +1800 to +1500 at Caesars Sportsbook by William Hill.

It’s the first big move made by new Lions general manager Brad Holmes, who was hired earlier this month from the Rams, for whom he was the director of college scouting. That was Holmes’ role when the Rams traded up from the No. 15 selection to take Goff first overall in the 2016 NFL draft, making a splash in their return to L.A. after 21 seasons in St. Louis. The Rams will not make another first-round selection until at least 2024.

A source told ESPN the Lions had interest from seven or eight teams offering first-round picks as compensation for Stafford. Though the deal for Goff won’t necessarily preclude the Lions from taking a quarterback in this year’s draft, Goff told ESPN’s Jeff Darlington on Saturday night that he spoke with new Lions coach Dan Campbell, and that Campbell made clear through his message that Goff is in the Lions’ plans for the future.

When asked following Detroit’s final game of the 2020 season if he thought it was his final game with the Lions, Stafford said he did not want to get into hypothetical situations. Soon after the season concluded, Stafford went to Lions team president Rod Wood and mentioned a trade might be best for both sides.

Stafford, 32, will leave Detroit as the team’s all-time leader in every passing category. He is No. 16 all time in NFL passing yards (45,109) and passing touchdowns (282), No. 18 in attempts (6,224) and No. 14 in completions (3,898). His career passer rating of 89.9 is No. 21 all time, and his 144 interceptions are tied for No. 66 all time with Joe Flacco and Steve Bartkowski.

Stafford is No. 4 all time in passing yards per game (273.4), behind just Patrick Mahomes, Drew Brees and Andrew Luck. He also is second all time behind Luck in attempts per game (37.7) and is fourth in completions per game (23.6) behind Brees, Mahomes and Matt Ryan.

Stafford came into the league as the No. 1 overall pick in the 2009 draft out of Georgia and became Detroit’s starter immediately. Injuries, including a separated shoulder, hampered his first two seasons in the NFL, but he went on to start all but eight games for Detroit since the start of the 2011 season.

When he had to miss the final eight games of the 2019 season due to fractured bones in his back, it ended a streak of 136 straight starts — at the time the sixth-longest consecutive starts streak for a quarterback in NFL history.

Stafford has dealt with a multitude of ailments over the years, including injuries to his ribs, ankle and right thumb last season. He also played in 2018 with fractures in his back and a proximal interphalangeal joint dislocation of the middle finger of his throwing hand in 2016, among other things.

While the Lions never won the NFC North with Stafford as their quarterback, he kept them largely competitive over the past decade as the team’s first draft pick after Detroit’s 0-16 season in 2008. Stafford had eight seasons of 4,000 or more yards passing and a 5,038-yard season in 2011, when he also threw a career-high 41 touchdowns. Stafford has thrown at least 20 touchdowns in every full season of his career — and at least 10 interceptions, as well.

Stafford already has friends and a place to stay on the West Coast: Stafford owns an estate in Newport Coast, southeast of Los Angeles in Orange County, and he is a childhood friend and former high school teammate of longtime Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw.

Although the Rams didn’t confirm the trade, their official Twitter account tweeted at Kershaw, asking him: “Have you heard from an old friend today?”

Stafford has won just five of 16 matchups against his new division opponents in the NFC West. Goff, meanwhile, has won four of six against the NFC North.

Goff, who turned 26 in October, leaves L.A. after five seasons, including four under Rams coach Sean McVay, and with a 42-27 record. He made seven winless starts as a rookie under former coach Jeff Fisher, before the Rams hired McVay, who was known for his offensive acumen and ability to develop quarterbacks. McVay and Goff flourished in their first two seasons together, winning back-to-back division titles and an NFC championship.

The Rams awarded Goff a four-year, $134 million extension with $110 million guaranteed after he led the Rams to a Super Bowl LIII appearance. However, the offense never appeared the same after a 13-3 loss to the New England Patriots in that Super Bowl, as the Rams fell from a top-scoring team to an average unit over the past two seasons.

Issues between Goff and McVay became apparent during the 2020 season despite a 10-6 record. After a 23-20 loss to the San Francisco 49ers in Week 12, McVay publicly called out the quarterback for three turnovers and demanded that the issue improve. Over the past two seasons, Goff ranked second in the NFL with 38 turnovers.

McVay opted to start undrafted free-agent backup John Wolford in a wild-card playoff game at the Seattle Seahawks despite Goff telling his coach he would be ready to play 12 days removed from surgery on his throwing-hand thumb. Wolford was forced to leave that contest in the first quarter because of a neck injury, and Goff, the only available backup, passed for 155 yards and a touchdown in the 30-20 win. After the game, Goff expressed disappointment that he did not start.

A week later, in a divisional playoff at the Green Bay Packers, McVay was forced to start Goff with Wolford sidelined because of his neck. Goff passed for 174 yards and a touchdown in a 32-18 loss.

After the Packers game, when asked if Goff was his quarterback, McVay said, “Yeah, he’s our quarterback, right now.”

Earlier this week, Rams general manager Les Snead did not provide a public vote of confidence for Goff when asked multiple times about the quarterback’s future with the Rams.

“Moving on from Jared Goff, that’s … the money we’ve invested in him, that’s not easy to overcome,” said Snead, who added later that “anything can be done” in a cap-based system.

The Lions will face the Rams next season at SoFi Stadium.

ESPN Stats & Information and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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