The best off ramp from Matthew Stafford is right now

If Rams want draft capital in return for Matthew Stafford, this offseason is their best chance

Matthew Stafford’s return to the Los Angeles Rams is not set in stone.

There’s a non-zero chance that the Rams decide to move on from the quarterback this offseason even though the veteran announced his intent to return to football in 2025. It will likely require an adjustment to Stafford’s contract in order to officially bring him back into the fold.

There are two sides to the coin:

1 – GO ALL IN

The Rams have a young roster that demonstrated this past season they are built to contend in the NFC conference. It’s time to once again push all the chips to the middle of the table and go all in on winning another Super Bowl over the next two years.

2 – RESET AND MAXIMIZE VALUE

Stafford’s trade value will never be as high as it is right now. There are quarterback-needy teams and desperate regimes that would exchange draft capital in hopes of winning now and preserving their own job security. The Rams could pair a bridge QB with a drafted rookie to groom for the future. Sean McVay will maximize whoever is under center for LA.

Let’s focus on scenario #2 for now.

Adjusting Stafford’s contract would in theory lock him in for 2025 and perhaps even 2026. He’d basically be 39 years old at the conclusion of a two-year commitment. Stafford would either retire as a Ram or fetch minimal value in terms of return compensation in a trade at that point, as no one in their right mind would give up a draft pick with a four-year, cost-controlled contract in exchange for a year-to-year proposition with Stafford.

If getting premium draft capital in exchange for Stafford and sticking a soft landing is important for Los Angeles, there’s truly no better time to offload him than right now.

There are a handful of front offices around the NFL that are on shaky ground and probably believe they are a quarterback away from saving their own job. For example, Mike Tomlin with the Pittsburgh Steelers, Kevin Stefanski and the Cleveland Browns, Brian Daboll and Joe Schoen of the New York Giants, Brian Callahan with the Tennessee Titans to start the list.

The Rams could turn to a Jimmy Garoppolo, Sam Darnold, or Daniel Jones and then select a quarterback in this spring’s NFL Draft. We’ve yet to see Sean McVay handpick a rookie quarterback—other than Stetson Bennett who was a mid-round flyer and a rumored favorite of Les Snead—and we know LA’s leading man would maximize whatever value there is to squeeze out of a veteran bridge option.

This shouldn’t be confused with waiving the white flag on the team’s current contention window. It’s about expanding that window in line with the primes of Puka Nacua, Jared Verse, Braden Fiske, and others. If the Rams play their cards right and develop a young quarterback who is affordable for four to five years, they will be a force to be reckoned with for the better part of the next decade.

Is a soft reset in 2025 worth a rosier long-term outlook? The idea has to be on the minds of McVay and Snead as they contemplate yet another contract adjustment (potentially his third in four years) for Stafford.