The Athletic’s Jeff Howe and others have mentioned how the Los Angeles Rams’ acquiring an extra 2026 first-round pick during this year’s draft could allow the club to grab a replacement for starting quarterback Matthew Stafford next spring.
During a recent appearance on SiriusXM’s Mad Dog Sports Radio, Rams head coach Sean McVay suggested he’s not yet thinking about who will take Stafford’s place and when.
“We have a chance with him every time he’s at the switch, and love working with him. And I think he can play as long as he wants, but fortunately, I’m hoping it’s a couple more years,” McVay said about Stafford, per Kevin Patra of NFL.com.
The Rams and Stafford are taking things a year at a time after the club let him explore a trade to either the New York Giants or Las Vegas Raiders earlier this offseason. Stafford reportedly accepted less money offered by those teams to stay with the Rams via a revised contract, and he later admitted he “never really wanted to leave” what’s been his NFL home since 2021.
“When you’re able to have real conversations with people you love and care about, you can go one of two ways. You can either get further apart, or you can get closer,” McVay said about chats he had with Stafford before the veteran put pen to paper on his agreement. “And there is no question in my mind that he and I are closer than ever. There’s a lot of appreciation, there’s a lot of gratitude that we were able to work through some of those things. …It doesn’t go lost on me how fortunate I am to be able to work with somebody as special as he is, both mentally, physically, and more importantly what he means with how he moves as a man, and how he positively affects and influences his teammates and people he’s around.”
The Rams acquired second-round (No. 46) and seventh-round picks (No. 242) this year and a 2026 first-round selection from the Atlanta Falcons for the 26th pick of this year’s draft and a 2025 third-round choice (No. 101). As Matt Goul of the Cleveland Plain Dealer and others have noted, next year’s draft could be responsible for what becomes an excellent quarterback class.
While McVay added that Stafford “came out of this (past) season feeling really good physically,” the one-time Super Bowl champion turns 38 next winter. Stafford may play “a couple more years” before he retires, but the upcoming campaign could be his last as a member of the Rams.
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