Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford will report to the team’s training camp with the lingering issue of his contract containing no additional guaranteed money after the 2024 season seemingly resolved. Rams coach Sean McVay confirmed the new deal during Tuesday’s pre-training camp news conference.
McVay didn’t provide many details of the new deal, but said it’s not an extension.
Stafford’s salary cap numbers for the 2025 and 2026 seasons (via Over the Cap) are $50.5 million and $49.5 million, respectively, with nothing guaranteed.
McVay declined to comment on whether the team was preparing for the possibility of a holdout, but as late as Tuesday morning, team and league sources were unsure whether Stafford would arrive at training camp by the report deadline on Tuesday at noon.
Stafford, 36, is coming off his second Pro Bowl season in 2023 after throwing for 3,965 yards with 24 touchdowns and 11 interceptions while guiding the Rams to a playoff appearance. The Super Bowl LVI-winning passer missed two games last season with a right thumb injury.
This situation had been simmering with no resolution since the early spring. I believe the initial report leaked not only because Stafford would like to be compensated more closely to the league’s top quarterbacks after an excellent 2023 season, but also as a signal to the league overall that he believes he can play at a high level for the next several years. McVay noted that not all of the reasons Stafford wanted an adjusted deal were financially motivated.
Meanwhile, the Rams signed backup Jimmy Garoppolo to a one-year deal this spring, but he is suspended for the first two games of the regular season for violating the NFL’s Performance Enhancing Substances Policy. Third-string quarterback Stetson Bennett re-joined the team in the offseason after spending his rookie year on the non-football/illness list with what he described as a mental health issue.
Stafford participated in all voluntary organized team activity sessions earlier this summer. This led many inside the team to believe that he would show up for training camp — although the contract concern was left without a resolution through that time and the building was very, very quiet about its status. But as of early Tuesday morning, team and league sources did not know whether he would do so.
NFL teams have never practiced less. Sean McVay and his coaching contemporaries have had to adjust building their rosters.
So what qualities does he look for in his Rams players?
“This is still a grown man’s game.”