At this point, it’s been years since Matthew Stafford has been the quarterback for the Detroit Lions, but it’s still interesting to keep up with his career. After all, Stafford was the team’s bona fide starter from 2009 to 2020, and even though he never took the Detroit Lions to the big game, there is still a lot of love for Stafford in Detroit. Sure, Jared Goff is our man now, but following Stafford is kind of like keeping up with an ex, in some ways.
Now, Stafford is back with the Los Angeles Rams for one more season. The 37-year-old signed a two-year, $8.4 million contract with the Los Angeles Rams during the offseason, including $8 million guaranteed and an average annual salary of $4.2 million. But how long will he stay with the Rams?
One NFL analyst and expert is naming the Los Angeles Rams as one of the teams that will be in the market for a new quarterback, and soon.
Analyst Predicts When the Rams and Matthew Stafford Will Part Ways
In a May 9 article for Bleacher Report, NFL expert and analyst Brad Gagnon looks at each team’s urgency after 2025 NFL draft to land a solid quarterback. For methodology, he looked mainly at “age, trajectory, experience, contract, injury history and the state of the team.”
In the feature, he rattles off a handful of “prime candidates to pursue a new franchise quarterback next offseason (if not sooner).” Sure enough, he has the Rams as one of those teams.
“Matthew Stafford is back for more, but there’s a good chance he’ll decide to hang ’em up after this season,” Gagnon states in the feature. “The Rams could also decide to move on from him if they don’t see the value in an expensive, past-his-prime quarterback who has a 91.8 passer rating since the start of 2022.”
Gagnon also named the franchise with the biggest desire for a quarterback as the Pittsburgh Steelers. That shouldn’t be surprising, considering they’re desperately waiting it out for Aaron Rodgers.
Former Detroit Lions Quarterback Gets Praise
Stafford certainly has a fan in Colin Cowherd. On the May 7 episode of his show, “The Herd,” Cowherd said Stafford could surpass Rodgers in greatness. Hyperbole? Maybe.
“Matthew Stafford is never going to struggle with egg prices. He could have struggled with a New York Giant’s offensive line. It’s a smart move,” Cowherd stated. “I’ve always had this theory that if Matt Stafford gets to another Super Bowl and wins, and I do think there’s about six teams that could do it, and the Rams are one of them.”
He added, “I think Stafford will be viewed historically better than Aaron Rodgers. So, if you look at Aaron against Matt Stafford since the 2021 playoffs, just go look at the numbers here. Matt has become a much better playoff quarterback. They both have a Super Bowl. Matt was better than Aaron in high school, college and the first four years of the NFL. And, he’s been better the last four years.”
The NFL season will begin with the NFL Kickoff Game on Thursday, September 4.
