Matthew Stafford won the NFL’s 2025 MVP award on Thursday night and during his speech confirmed that he will be returning to play in 2026. After some mystery surrounding his intention to play an 18th season, perhaps allowing Stafford to make the announcement for this very moment, the Rams quarterback told his daughters on stage that he will indeed hold off retirement again.
Given how he played in 2025, that seems like a good idea.
Stafford threw a league-leading 46 touchdown passes, which is also a career-high, and helped the Rams go 12-5 in a tough NFC West division. The Rams reached the NFC Championship game and Stafford once again proved that he’s perhaps the only quarterback in the league who can go toe-to-toe with the Seahawks defense right now.
Paired with Puka Nacua again next year, Stafford could challenge for back-to-back MVPs. There is no clear intention on the Rams part to make any significant changes on offense, but the future of Davante Adams and what his plans are at age 34 is the next page to turn.
This is of course Stafford’s first MVP award. He surprisingly had just one Pro Bowl nod prior to joining the Rams in 2021, but given the Pro Bowl rosters we saw this year, that surely doesn’t tell you much about quality.
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