The Rams have made some significant changes this offseason, a period that has seen a perennially all-in team scale down its operation and proceed conservatively. But the Rams still feature many Super Bowl LVI starters on their roster. Obviously, none will be more important to the team’s 2023 cause than Matthew Stafford.
Stafford’s 2022 proved concerning through a long-term lens. The 14-year veteran did not throw during the Rams’ offseason program due to a nagging elbow injury, and he landed in the team’s concussion protocol twice during an abbreviated season. A spinal cord contusion ended up shutting Stafford down early. Stafford squashed retirement rumors — on his wife’s podcast — late during a season in which the Rams also sent organizational pillars Aaron Donald and Cooper Kupp to IR. Donald and Kupp remain, but the team moved on from standouts Jalen Ramsey, Leonard Floyd and Bobby Wagner this offseason.
While injuries have started to pile up for Stafford, the former Lions centerpiece has managed to play through most of them over the course of his career. And the Rams’ 2021 trade that sent Jared Goff to Detroit did produce a Super Bowl title. Between the regular season and playoffs that year, Stafford threw for 6,074 yards and added 50 touchdown passes.
Sean McVay is now confident his starter will be ready to pick up where that season left off, following the injury-restricted 2022. While the team will likely proceed carefully with its starter, McVay said Stafford will have no limitations going into Los Angeles’ offseason program.
“I think he’d be better equipped to answer this, but I think it’s been a long time since he’s been healthy through an offseason, where he’s been able to throw,” McVay said, via Rams.com’s Stu Jackson. “I was just with him the other morning where he was in there early [at the facility] working, being able to do the things that are in alignment with preparing for the season.
“I think last year, there was such a unique combination and collaboration of things that prevented him from being able to play the way that he’s capable of, whether it was the things that he dealt with, some of the surrounding parts, missing a lot of time leading up into the season with some of the injuries and just different things that he was working through.”
Stafford missed eight games last season. He also missed eight during the 2019 campaign, with a back injury sidelining him. In the other seasons from 2011-21, however, the Super Bowl-winning QB did not miss a game. The Rams will bank on their veteran passer’s durability next season. They will have to, at this point, considering the contract they authorized last year.
As part of the four-year, $160MM deal the Rams gave Stafford — during an offseason in which L.A. also extended Kupp and gave Donald a record-setting raise — $57MM of the QB’s contract became guaranteed recently. Stafford’s $26MM option bonus and his $31MM 2024 base salary are now locked in. The Rams have their quarterback on a manageable $20MM cap number this season but may need to go to the restructure well for 2024, when the cap hit spikes to $49.5MM.