Brockers remorseful for calling Stafford a 'level up' over Goff

Michael Brockers apologized to Jared Goff after referring to Matthew Stafford as a "level up" when the Los Angeles Rams and Detroit Lions swapped quarterbacks.

Brockers, a longtime Rams defensive tackle, was traded to the Lions early in free agency, reuniting him with Goff less than two weeks after making the "level up" comment.

"I was really just trying to boost up the move the team was doing, and trying to boost up the fanbase," Brockers said Monday, per MLive's Kyle Meinke. "I didn't think it was anything against Jared, and I even had to go text Jared away from the camera just as a man, and just like, 'Man, bro, I did not mean for it go like that. I didn't mean what I said. As a man, you just know I respect you as a player. You took me to a Super Bowl. So it wasn't like that.'

"After I seen it in the media and I seen how it was blowing up, I was like, 'Oh my God, that's not what I meant at all.' Definitely right after I seen it was getting out of hand, I had to text him. I didn't want him to think I didn't see it or I didn't care about his feelings, because I knew he'd see that."

Goff and Brockers were both essentially salary dumps when traded. The Rams attached a pair of first-round picks to get the Lions to accept the Goff deal, while they moved Brockers for a 2023 seventh-round selection after failing to restructure his contract.

Goff said he and Brockers are still on good terms after the defensive tackle apologized.

"Brock is one of my good friends and a good teammate, and I get it," Goff said. "He apologized very quickly. I love Brock. Sometimes it happens, but that guy is my guy. I love Brock, and he reached out to me very quickly after that and (there's) no ill will. We're all good."

Brockers was a captain on the Rams. He posted five sacks in 2020 but has been known mostly as a run-stopper throughout his nine-year career. He received a new three-year, $24-million contract upon arriving in Detroit.

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