Soon after the Rams agreed to a restructure of Matthew Stafford’s contract for the 2025 season, General Manager Les Snead spoke about the need for the team to find the 37-year-old quarterback’s eventual successor “ASAP.”
But with the NFL draft coming up this week and speculation about if or when the Rams will select a signal caller, Snead kept his evaluation of this quarterback class to himself during a Tuesday afternoon Zoom press conference.
“When you prepare for a draft, however many other positions there are … you kind of evaluate in a bucket and if you’re going to get down and go down the quarterback path,” Snead said, “that’s an entirely different bucket based on all the requirements it takes to play QB in this league at a successful rate.”
But one person the Rams won’t hide their cards from this weekend is Stafford himself.
In his Zoom press conference on Monday, Stafford said he would try to teach a rookie quarterback as much as possible. Head coach Sean McVay added Tuesday that the Rams will keep Stafford apprised if the team decides to take a quarterback in the draft.
“You never regret overcommunicating, creating clarity for people as opposed to ‘why?’” McVay said. “When we drafted Stetson Bennett a couple years ago, we made sure to communicate with [Stafford] beforehand. But I think you want to be inclusive as you can, especially to players that are in his position.”
Rams won’t rule out Ramsey reunion
The Miami Dolphins and former Rams cornerback Jalen Ramsey have reportedly agreed to explore trade options, and on Tuesday Snead said the Rams have had some level of dialogue with the Dolphins about potentially reacquiring Ramsey.
“I know I’ve had discussions with Miami, so we discussed getting through the draft,” Snead said. “I know there’s a lot of nuances to that situation based on all the things that come with the trade, contracts and things like that. So not sure where they’re at in the process.”
The Rams traded two first-round picks for Ramsey during the 2019 season. He made two All-Pro first teams with the Rams and was a member of the Super Bowl LVI championship team. The Rams then traded him to Miami for a third-round pick and tight end Hunter Long after the 2022 season as they looked to reset their salary cap situation.
Ramsey is set to count $16.7 million against the cap in 2025. He has three years left on his contract following next season, but the deal has an out prior to the 2026 season that would come with a dead cap hit of $18.5 million.
Snead said that trade conversations of this nature tend to happen in the buildup to the draft. Teams call each other to say that, depending on how the draft unfolds, certain veterans might become available via trade. Snead likened it to a second free agency period.
“You get with your pro scouting staff and kind of figure out if trades are made and it’s player for player and things like that,” Snead said. “So that’s all part of the process, so whether it be Miami and Jalen, I can say there’s a lot of teams with other players that I’ll keep in-house.”
“Yeah, he’s a great player. We know him very well, we know him intimately,” McVay added. “You would certainly never rule out the possibility of that. But I think like Les articulated, our focus and concentration is on this week’s upcoming draft. There’s a lot of layers that would need to be worked out with a player of his magnitude and some of the different things that accompany that. But you would never eliminate the possibility of adding a total stud and a guy that can do a lot of different things like he’s continued to do.”