Matthew Stafford isn’t going anywhere: QB agrees to restructured Rams contract
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Matthew Stafford is a master at leading comebacks.
And after much offseason uncertainty, the Rams’ star quarterback is staying with the team he led to a Super Bowl title and three playoff appearances in four years.
On Friday, the Rams announced that Stafford agreed to a restructured contract after nearly two months of speculation about whether they would trade him. Terms were not disclosed.
Stafford, 37, had two seasons left on the extension he signed in 2022 after leading the Rams to victory in Super Bowl LVI at SoFi Stadium. This season he was due to earn a below-market $23 million in salary — with $4 million guaranteed — on a salary-cap number of $49.7 million.
Alaric Jackson, one of Matthew Stafford’s top protectors on the offensive line, is staying with the Rams on a three-year deal.
This is the second year in a row that the Rams agreed to adjust Stafford’s contract. But this offseason featured a little more drama.
A few weeks ago they gave Stafford’s agent, Jimmy Sexton, permission to explore contract terms with other teams if the 16-year veteran was traded. The permission was granted to gauge Stafford’s value on the open market and did not rule out a return to the Rams, who advanced to the NFC divisional round before losing to the eventual Super Bowl-champion Philadelphia Eagles.
The New York Giants and Las Vegas Raiders reportedly were among the teams interested in a trade for Stafford, who last season passed for 20 touchdowns with eight interceptions. The Giants have the third pick in the draft, the Raiders the sixth, though it is doubtful that either team would have included those picks as part of a deal.
Those conversations, however, gave Stafford and the Rams fodder for continuing their negotiations and reaching agreement, avoiding a repeat of last year’s impasse that lasted until the first day of training camp and did not end until the Rams agreed to push forward $5 million from 2025.
Earlier in the week, coach Sean McVay said there was “no doubt in my mind who I want to be our quarterback.”
“Now, how we get to that, because these decisions aren’t made in a vacuum, that’s the challenging thing,” McVay said on the Fitz & Whit podcast.
As Stafford’s situation played out, the Rams considered other scenarios.
Veteran Jimmy Garoppolo, 33, was the backup last season, and Aaron Rodgers, 41, a Super Bowl champion and four-time NFL most valuable player, also was regarded as a short-term solution.
But for now, the Rams can put off finding a successor for Stafford, who ranks in the top 10 in career passing yardage, completions and touchdown passes.
The top pick in the 2009 draft by the Detroit Lions, Stafford has passed for 59,809 yards and 377 touchdowns with 188 interceptions. He amassed 14,700 yards and 95 touchdowns with 44 interceptions during his first four seasons with the Rams.
Stafford came to Los Angeles after 12 seasons in Detroit, where he established himself as one of the NFL’s elite — and toughest — passers. But the Lions made the playoffs only three times and never won a postseason game. After the 2020 season, Stafford asked them to trade him.
McVay, fresh off a disappointing NFC divisional-round defeat by the Green Bay Packers, jumped at the opportunity to replace Jared Goff. The Rams sent the young quarterback, two-first-round draft picks and a third-round pick to the Lions for Stafford.
The deal paid immediate dividends for the Rams. Stafford passed for 41 touchdowns and led the Rams to a 12-5 record. He engineered playoff victories over the Arizona Cardinals, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and San Francisco 49ers before capping the season by passing for three touchdowns in a Super Bowl LVI victory over the Cincinnati Bengals at SoFi Stadium.
In 2022, Stafford suffered a concussion and then a spinal bruise that forced him to miss the final seven games of what proved to be the worst Super Bowl hangover in history.
The NFL commissioner discussed increasing the season to 18 games and cutting the preseason to two, saying there are complications but plenty of interest.
In 2023, Stafford bounced back and passed for 24 touchdowns as the Rams rebounded from a 3-6 start to make the playoffs. Last season they rebounded from a 1-4 start to make another playoff run.
After the loss to the Eagles, Stafford said he was “playing some pretty good ball” and that it “sure feels like” he had good football left in him. For how many more years remains to be seen.
But the Rams plan to capitalize on Stafford’s talent and experience for at least one more season.
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