While the Los Angeles Rams have a lot to sort out with their roster this offseason, the biggest domino to fall is the status of quarterback Matthew Stafford.
Stafford is coming off another exceptional season, leading the Rams to an NFC West division title and nearly upsetting the eventual-Super Bowl Champion Philadelphia Eagles on the road in the playoffs.
Even at age 37, Stafford made it clear that he wants to keep playing. The only issue is there wasn’t any guaranteed money left of his contract and he is only set to make $27 million in 2025, which is severely lower than what a quarterback of Stafford’s caliber is worth.
The Rams and Stafford were at a stalemate in contract negotiations last offseason, and that was again the case to start this offseason. The Rams allowed Stafford to speak with other teams to gauge his value for a new contract before deciding to follow through with a trade or come to an agreement on a new deal to keep the quarterback in L.A.
There naturally was a lot of interest in Stafford as plenty of teams can use a franchise quarterback, even one that may only play for a couple more seasons.
Ultimately though, returning to the Rams always made the most sense for both parties and with that, Stafford agreed to a new deal to stay with the team, per Adam Schefter of ESPN:
LA’s quarterback is back: the Rams and Matthew Stafford reached agreement today on a restructured deal that keeps him in Los Angeles and quashes any and all trade speculation, per sources.
The first significant off-season QB domino has fallen. pic.twitter.com/wNwydqn49R
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) February 28, 2025
The Rams and Matthew Stafford were one play away from beating the Eagles in snowy Philadelphia and advancing to the NFC Championship Game in their own building. It’s clear the team is closer to a Super Bowl than not, and Stafford gives them the best chance to get there. And both…
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) February 28, 2025
The Rams then confirmed that Stafford will be back with a pair of tweets:
pic.twitter.com/yAnC8Jy5Fg
— Los Angeles Rams (@RamsNFL) February 28, 2025
ALLOW ME TO REINTRODUCE MYSELF pic.twitter.com/0uaAiGsWTa
— Los Angeles Rams (@RamsNFL) February 28, 2025
Now that the Rams know Stafford will be back, they can focus on building the rest of their roster to compete for a Super Bowl in 2025.
Things were trending towards Matthew Stafford remaining with Rams
Even though the Rams allowed Matthew Stafford to meet with other teams, on Friday morning things began trending towards a return to L.A. and now they were able to get it done.
