The Rams naturally want to get clarity on quarterback Matthew Stafford’s status sooner rather than later. Although it is not yet a sure thing, it sounds as if the soon-to-be 37-year-old passer is prepared to continue his playing career. His contract, however, continues to be a talking point.
While Stafford is under club control through 2026, last summer’s restructure – which frontloaded most of his guarantees into 2024 – essentially turned his deal into a year-to-year accord. With a $23MM base salary and only $4MM in guaranteed money due in 2025, Stafford’s current pact is a team-friendly one, and therefore one which could be attractive to other clubs in need of a short-term QB fix (even if such a club would need to make an upward adjustment to the contract).
Indeed, both Jourdan Rodrigue of The Athletic (subscription required) and Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk believe that a Stafford trade is on the table. Given that the Rams just advanced to the second round of the playoffs, have a bevy of talented young players, and do not have an immediate Stafford successor in place, such a move would be surprising. That is especially true since Stafford is unlikely to fetch the high-end draft capital that the Rams dealt to the Lions to acquire him several years ago, and since Los Angeles’ first pick in the upcoming draft is the No. 26 overall selection.
Still, GM Les Snead did not shoot down the notion and merely suggested that he would not actively seek a trade.
“[I]t’ll take someone calling or us reaching out if we want to [make a trade],” Snead said (via Florio). “Those are the things that’ll be determined down the road here.”
Of course, hammering out a new or reworked contract with Stafford is also a real possibility. The No. 1 overall pick of the 2009 draft may not be at the height of his powers, but he is still a capable player, and a team like the Rams that has designs on another postseason run in 2025 will be hard-pressed to find an obvious plug-and-play upgrade. Indeed, head coach Sean McVay said last year that he is happy to have Stafford as his QB1 for as long as Stafford wants to play.
Wide receiver Cooper Kupp, another key piece of the club’s recent Super Bowl-winning outfit, is facing an even more uncertain LA future. The 2021 Triple Crown winner has struggled to stay healthy since that historic campaign, playing in 33 of a possible 51 regular season games over the past three years. His production has slipped accordingly, and he finished the 2024 season with 67 catches for 710 yards and six scores in 12 games. He still saw 100 targets but posted a 67% catch percentage, well below the marks he achieved from 2018-2022.
Kupp, 31, has clearly been surpassed by Puka Nacua in the Rams’ WR hierarchy, and his $29.78MM cap number in 2025 could be untenable for Los Angeles. Only $5MM of his $12.5MM base salary is guaranteed, and he has a roster bonus of $7.5MM that will not trigger until March 19. The Rams, who shopped the Eastern Washington product in advance of the 2024 trade deadline, will certainly want to execute a trade or release before that date.
For his part, Kupp confirmed that he will continue his playing career, though he realizes he may have played his last game for the Rams.
“Who knows what is going to happen?” he said. “A lot of stuff is out of my control. We’ll see (what) it’s going to be. There was obviously stuff that was going on early in the season and we’ll see. I don’t have any clarity on what that’s gonna look like. Obviously would love to be in L.A., but I don’t know what that is gonna look like.”
Running back Kyren Williams, on the other hand, looks like he will remain in Southern California for the foreseeable future. Now that he has accrued three years of service time, he is eligible for an extension, and Snead suggested he is amenable to having those conversations with Williams’ camp.
“He’s a Ram,” Snead said of Williams (via Rodrigue, who indicated that is language team brass uses for “heartbeat” players).
“I think [an extension is] something that’s going to be on the plate,” Snead added. “[Williams] would be someone that after three years you could begin discussing, let’s call it, renegotiating, starting anew. Because I do think Kyren is someone who is a Ram and has a very impactful role for us” (via Stu Jackson of the team’s official website).
Williams has seized Los Angeles’ RB1 job over the past two years, earning a Pro Bowl nod in 2023 and tallying 316 carries for 1,299 yards (4.1 YPC) and 16 combined TDs in 2024.
