The availability of Aaron Rodgers and Matthew Stafford will shake up the quarterback market in both 2025 NFL free agency and this year’s draft, and the New York Giants can play a key role in determining the futures of both veteran passers.
That’s according to an unnamed “experienced G.M.” who predicts a domino trade involving the Giants and Los Angeles Rams. He told Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio how things will play out with Stafford and Rodgers: “Step one, Stafford gets traded to the Giants. Step two, Rodgers signs with the Rams.”
The prediction is made “Based on recent reports and public comments and other things churning in the broader NFL rumor mill,” according to Florio. As he put it, this is “just a prediction. But it’s not from someone in the media or a fan. It’s from someone who knows a thing or two about how the NFL sausage gets made, based on having plenty of time turning the handle.”
This also isn’t the first time the Giants have been named a potential suitor for Stafford. The Rams are likely to demand a high price, but a franchise as desperate for competent quarterback play as the Giants, may have little choice but to pay up.
Giants Trade for Matthew Stafford Worth the Risk
The Rams allowing Stafford to explore a potential trade offers the Giants a proven way to fix their long-standing issues at football’s most important position. At least in theory, but Stafford and his agent getting to speak with teams doesn’t necessarily mean any deal will happen.
Perhaps this is all just “so the Rams and Stafford can gain a better understanding of his value outside the team, potentially making it easier to get a contract done. That remains the hope, that outside help can assist in gauging the market and seeing his value — and that this results in his return to LA,” according to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport.
Trying to make Stafford see his future outside L.A. will be worth the effort for the Giants. He “wants a raise over the $27 million the Rams are due to pay him in 2025,” per Florio, who also noted, “If Stafford and the Rams can’t work it out — and if the Giants (with a coach and/or a G.M. on the hot seat) want to make a big swing in the hopes of winning now — they’d be a candidate to pay him and to give the Rams fair and proper trade compensation.”
Gauging a fair and proper trade price isn’t straightforward, but the Giants won’t get a Super Bowl-winning Pro Bowl passer on the cheap. That doesn’t need to matter when Stafford is still making plays like this ad-libbed touchdown pass to Cooper Kupp against the Minnesota Vikings in Week 8.
How many more plays like this a 37-year-old signal-caller has left is the question likely to weigh heaviest on the minds of Giants general manager Joe Schoen and head coach Brian Daboll.
The same concerns surround any move for Rodgers.
Aaron Rodgers’ Future Also in Giants Thoughts
Stafford would have the best credentials of any QB on the market if it weren’t for Rodgers being a free agent. He’s a Super Bowl winner, four-time league MVP and 10-time Pro Bowler, but Rodgers is also 41 and left the New York Jets under a cloud amid concerns about his treatment of teammates and distractions off the field, concerns raised in a report by ESPN’s Rich Cimini.
Those issues are why Rodgers isn’t thought to be near the top of the list of veteran quarterbacks the Giants will try to recruit this offseason. Instead, those efforts may focus on a sleeper quarterback who played his football in the AFC North during 2024.
Or perhaps the Giants will throw their weight behind putting the right deal together for Stafford. It would leave Schoen free to plan for drafting a versatile star capable of bolstering multiple positions.
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