The Rams are continuing a year-to-year approach with Matthew Stafford after signing him to a restructured deal that will keep him in Los Angeles for the 2025 season.
The team is expecting to revisit his contract every year as he considers retiring or returning to the field as one of the league’s longest-tenured players, per Jourdan Rodrigue of The Athletic.
Rams vice president of football and business administration Tony Pastoors said that Stafford’s annual contract review is a “good problem to have.”
“If you’ve got a quarterback, you’ve got a chance,” said Pastoors (via Rodrigue). “And we’ve got a really good one.”
General manager Les Snead said that retaining Stafford will push the Rams towards a “win-now” approach in April’s draft, making it less likely that the team will use a premium pick on a quarterback.
“Always open to drafting a quarterback,” Snead said, but he added that teams with a more immediate need under center tend to take quarterbacks higher than the Rams value them. He also acknowledged the possibility that another team could trade up to Los Angeles’ first-round pick (No. 26 overall) to draft a quarterback.
Head coach Sean McVay said that drafting a quarterback was “unlikely,” per Sports Illustrated’s Brock Vierra.
“I’ll be honest with you, I haven’t done a whole lot of work on the quarterbacks,” continued McVay. “I feel really good about where our quarterback room is.”
The Rams’ quarterback room currently consists of Stafford, veteran Jimmy Garoppolo and 2023 fourth-rounder Stetson Bennett. Garoppolo is on a one-year deal, while Bennett has two years remaining on his rookie contract. Since Stafford has stated a desire to play beyond 2025, the team doesn’t seem to be in any rush to find his successor.