How Stafford staying in L.A. benefits both him and the Rams

While the Los Angeles Rams were negotiating with Matthew Stafford, head coach Sean McVay gave him a vote of confidence on the “Fitz & Whit” podcast.

McVay said there was no doubt the Rams wanted Stafford to be their quarterback, adding that the team needed to “look at the short term and the long term” of what a new deal would mean for both sides.

By adjusting Stafford’s contract on Friday to keep him in Los Angeles, the Rams chose to focus on the short term, keeping the quarterback who gives them the best chance to win another Super Bowl.

“The coolest thing you can say about Matthew is he shines the brightest on the biggest stages,” McVay said. “When you look at the seven playoff games that he’s played in since he’s been a Ram, he certainly gives you a chance every time you step out on the field.”

While at the negotiating table, the Rams had to weigh Stafford’s request for a raise from his scheduled $27 million salary in 2025 with the ability to continue to invest in their young roster going forward.

Editor’s Picks

2 Related

Before the 2024 season, the Rams and Stafford reworked his 2022 extension, ultimately agreeing to an adjusted contract on the day the team reported to training camp. A source told ESPN during training camp that the sides expected to go back to the negotiating table after the season if Stafford wanted to play in 2025 and beyond.

The two sides did, and they were far enough off in their valuations that the Rams allowed Stafford and agent Jimmy Sexton to gauge the quarterback’s value on the open market. Although he had discussions with the New York Giants and Las Vegas Raiders, Stafford was ultimately able to come to an agreement with the Rams on an adjusted contract/contract extension.

While the Rams have restructured the deal for 2025, they have kept together a significant portion of their roster that had them 13 yards away from hosting the NFC Championship Game last season.

Returning to Los Angeles gives Stafford the chance to add to his NFL legacy. The quarterback, who just finished his 16th season, is 191 yards shy of reaching 60,000 career passing yards. Only nine other quarterbacks have accomplished that feat.

After the Rams lost in the divisional round of the playoffs to the Philadelphia Eagles, Stafford said he would take time to consider his NFL future, but said, “I feel like I was playing some pretty good ball.” He was then asked whether he has football left in him and said, “Sure feels like it.”

Only Stafford, 37, knows how much longer he wants to play, but McVay said he believed his quarterback was playing at a high level last season.

“I know he’s playing really good football,” McVay said in his end-of-season news conference.

Last season, Stafford completed 65.8% of his passes for 3,762 yards with 20 touchdowns and eight interceptions.

Stafford has played through many injuries during his time in Los Angeles, including an injury to his ribs late in the season in 2024.

In January, Stafford’s wife, Kelly, said on her podcast that Stafford cracked four ribs in Week 15 against the San Francisco 49ers. But after the loss to the Eagles when he aggravated that injury early in the game, he said he “didn’t feel like it was much of a factor.”

Stafford also ended the 2022 season on injured reserve with a spinal cord contusion. He was in the concussion protocol twice that season, playing in nine games.

Stafford has missed a game and a half due to injury since that season, sitting out the regular season finales in 2023 and ’24 to rest after the Rams had already clinched a playoff spot.

Unlike the Rams team that won Super Bowl LVI with a roster built with its “f— them picks” mentality, Los Angeles’ 2023 and ’24 playoffs teams were built a different way. In the past two offseasons, Snead and the Rams have rebuilt their roster through the draft — in 2024, the Rams had a first-round pick for the first time since 2016 — especially on the defensive side of the ball.

In his end-of-season news conference, McVay was asked about the challenges of balancing the salary cap with the knowledge that because they’ve had such successful drafts that they’ll have to pay those players in the next few years.

“That’s a good thing,” McVay said. “What we know is each year is its own separate entity. You do want to be able to get ahead of those things and I think in an ideal situation and scenario, you’re building and developing from within with those draft picks.”

But while the Rams will likely continue to draft and develop those picks, they’ll do it with one of their “weight-bearing walls” in Stafford leading the way.