The Los Angeles Rams are in another offseason of navigating contract and trade speculation about Matthew Stafford. The prevailing notion remains that Stafford will return to the Rams for the 2025 season, but speculation about Aaron Rodgers continues.
Rodgers is nearly five years older than Stafford. He is also coming off a 5-12 campaign with the New York Jets after missing all but Week 1 of the 2024 campaign with a torn Achilles.
However, an anonymous NFL general manager believes Rodgers will replace Stafford in LA.
“Based on recent reports and public comments and other things churning in the broader NFL rumor mill, one experienced G.M. has a prediction as to how the Matthew Stafford and Aaron Rodgers companion mysteries will be resolved,” Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio wrote on February 22. “Step one, Stafford gets traded to the Giants.
“Step two, Rodgers signs with the Rams.”
“There’s a belief that Rodgers’s desire to play for the Rams will get him to do a sweetheart deal,” Florio wrote. “Again, it’s 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.”
Rodgers-to-the-Rams ideas have been prevalent amid the Stafford trade speculation.
Rodgers, 41, is a 10-time Pro Bowler, four-time All-Pro, and one-time Super Bowl champion. He completed 63% of his passes for 3,897 yards, 28 touchdowns, and 11 interceptions in 2024. Over the final 10 weeks of the season, however, Rodgers posted a 2,234-18-4 line on 64% completion.
He is entering Year 2 of a three-year, $112.5 million contract with $381.7 million in career earnings, the most in NFL history, per Over The Cap.
Over The Cap projects the Rams will have $44.4 million to spend this offseason.
Matthew Stafford Still a ‘Killer’ in Postseason
GettyMatthew Stafford #9 of the Los Angeles Rams calls a play against the Philadelphia Eagles during the NFC Divisional Playoff.
Stafford, 37, threw for 3,762 yards, 20 TDs, and 8 INTs in 2024. Stafford completed 66.5% of his throws for 2,800 yards with 15 scores and 7 picks in Weeks 1 through 12. He completed fewer than 60% of his passes in one game during that span.
However, Stafford had three sub-60% games from Weeks 13 through 17. He sat out the regular season finale ahead of the playoffs.
The Athletic’s Jourdan Rodrigue noted Stafford still flipped a switch in the playoffs, though.
“Through the back third or so of the 2024 season, he played poorer football than I have seen from him in his time in L.A.,” Rodrigue wrote on February 20. “He managed more games than he directly won during that span. He also admitted he didn’t play well. However, in the playoffs, he turned back into an absolute killer.”
Stafford had a 538-4-0 line on 63.4% completion. He still posted two games above 70% completion and led the Rams to five straight wins during the back stretch of the regular season too. LA fell to the Philadelphia Eagles 28-22 in the NFC Divisional Playoff.
The Eagles beat their three other opponents by an average margin of 17.3 points.
Eagles cornerback Darius Slay expressed similar sentiments as Rodrigue, saying the Rams gave the eventual Super Bowl champions their toughest challenge.
“I think the closest team to us, honestly, in this postseason was the Rams. I think the Rams had the best chance of beating us in the whole postseason; my opinion,” Slay said during an interview with “NFL Digest” on February 20. “They could get out to the quarterback, but they could not stop the run … as good. But they had a great offense. Like a great offense. They was good at what they did.”
Stafford’s wife, Kelly, questioned the Rams trade rumors around her husband for similar reasons.
Pelissero: Rams Not Yet Negotiating Matthew Stafford Trade Compensation
GettyMatthew Stafford #9 of the Los Angeles Rams talks with Aaron Rodgers #8 of the New York Jets.
Endorsements like that could explain why the Rams granted Stafford’s camp permission to speak with other teams. However, their goal is to find out what kind of contract the two-time Pro Bowler may land, not trade compensation.
Not yet, according to NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero who reported the news on February 21.
“It gives the Rams an idea – and Stafford – an idea of, ‘Hey, we’re going to try to work together. Are we going to be able to work out a new contract to keep him in LA?” Pelissero said on “The Rich Eisen Show” on February 21. “This goes for a trade too. If you’re trading for the guy, and it’s going to take a significant pick – Let’s just say it’s going to be a second-round pick, you’re going to want to know, ‘Am I getting this guy for one year? For two years? For three years?
“Now, to my understanding, they’ve not gotten to the point of actually negotiating trade compensation. That’s a separate conversation here. Right now, it’s about what do the numbers need to be for Matthew Stafford to come back? What would the numbers be if Matthew Stafford went elsewhere? That’s what they’re navigating here.”
Still, the links between Stafford and the Giants – where his brother-in-law is on the coaching staff – and Rodgers to the Rams as his replacement – continue to stir before the offseason begins.
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