Sunday’s loss to the Rams could be quarterback Matthew Stafford’s last game with the team.
Asked about his future after the divisional round playoff loss to the Eagles, Stafford looked at his watch, said the game had just ended a while ago and added that he would.take a moment to think about it,” via Sarah Barshop of ESPN.com.
If his time with the Rams is over, his time in the NFL is not.
“I feel like I played pretty good ball,” Stafford said. When asked if he still has some game left in him, he said: “It certainly feels that way.”
The 36-year-old Stafford, who was selected first in the 2009 draft, has two years left on his contract. He has a fully guaranteed roster bonus of $4 million due in March, and a non-guaranteed salary of $23 million.
That’s less than half the current market for the position, and Stafford clearly continues to perform at a higher level.
The Rams adjusted Stafford’s contract when training camp opened. It was the product of quiet tensions between the player and the team that lingered from the draft (when the Rams did not make a first-round pick for his successor) until the reporting deadline.
After the Rams limped to a 1-4 start, there were rumors that Stafford would welcome a trade.
But then things changed dramatically for the Rams. They rebounded to win the NFC West and a Wild Card playoff game before falling short in Philadelphia.
Although the Rams won a Super Bowl in the first year after the trade that sent Stafford to LA for quarterback Jared Goff, two first-round picks and a third-round pick, the Rams quietly hoped after the 2022 season that the Jets would would do. come calling when their attempt to trade for Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers failed.
The Rams are in a tough spot, to say the least. They are undergoing a youth movement, with an emerging defense and offensive stars like running back Kyren Williams and receiver Puka Nacua. And coach Sean McVay may be considering finding a younger player at the position.
When asked about Stafford’s future, McVay said, “I’m not really interested in talking about anything as it relates to next year.”
McVay also remained tight-lipped last year about defensive tackle Aaron Donald, who surprisingly retired after 10 NFL seasons in March.
And so, after the annual coaching carousel stops spinning and the annual quarterback carousel is activated, Stafford may be an option for the teams looking for new quarterbacks – and the Rams may be one of the teams looking for it are missing.