Did the LA Rams’ Goff-Stafford deal raise price for NFL veteran QBs?

Quarterback Matthew Stafford found himself entering 2021 on the trade block. After all, he was a league-wide respected NFL quarterback who played on a bad team. What the LA Rams were willing to pay for such a veteran QB has now raised the ante, the stakes, the asking price, for all the other veteran quarterbacks on the market.

A rising tide raises all the boats in the harbor.

And the price tag the Rams were willing to pay for the services of Stafford – two first-round picks, a third-round pick, and a player (with a gi-normus contract salary cap hit in QB Jared Goff)- was just that tide.

The blockbuster deal has re-set the bar for what it now requires to land a veteran QB. If your team is looking for a QB who can still sling it, can still get the job done, and won’t kill your chances with turnovers, here’s the new MSRP, the manufacturer’s suggested retail price for a vet QB.

Even if you think the Rams over-paid for Stafford, surely you must concede he sweetened the pot for all the other veteran QBs saddled with bad teams, or backup QBs looking for another gig, another payday with a new team, and a fresh start.

I also got to thinking about this because of the recent news of the passing of Marty Schottenheimer, the longtime NFL coach who won 200 NFL games with a style of play that had three basic ingredients: a strong running game, attacking defense, and a veteran quarterback who could limit turnovers.

That style of play (some called it “Martyball”) only managed to amount to a record of 200-126-1 in 21 seasons with the Cleveland Browns, KC Chiefs, Washington Football Team, and Los Angeles Chargers.

That’s worth repeating – a veteran quarterback who can limit turnovers.

And right about now, there are a whole lotta’ NFL teams out there who could use such a player. Teams in need of QBs, who are looking for QBs, and may not find said QBs in the draft. And so, they are strongly considering the merits of signing an old hand,  a veteran QB at the helm.

Maybe such a signing is a stopgap measure, a placeholder, a bridge to your future QB.  Maybe even the signing is just to get a guy who won’t necessarily win you a lotta’ games but won’t lose you too many, either. And perhaps they just bring a sound voice of hard-earned sage NFL experience into your quarterback room. Or, just valued mentorship of the rookie.

Experience matters. It has value. Real value.

The Matthew Stafford Package has breathed new life (not to mention more Benjamins) into the role of the grizzled veteran, the journeyman QB. The status (read: value) of the game manager QB  has now been raised, ratcheted up.

That QB who’s able to recognize coverages quickly (and just take what the defense gives him) has extra value, extra merit now. The one who dishes off the pigskin to rely on his playmakers to create in space – his stock (and therefore, his asking price) goes up.

An experienced eye can provide a team with that, whereas the rookie you just drafted out of college will have to think about it. And that synaptic delay can be all the difference between a third-down conversion to keep the chains moving . . . or a costly sack to bring on the punt team.

But the experienced eye, well, it just reacts. That guy is suddenly more in demand now around the rest of the league.

It’s a good time, a grand time, to be the agent for the likes of a Ryan Fitzpatrick or a Nick Foles, or even a Joe Flacco. The floor of any negotiations with a teams’ management about any sort of a trade, re-signing, or contract re-structuring has just raised a notch. . .  or two, or three.