LA Rams: HC McVay believes Matthew Stafford is one “one bad MFer”

Oh, the difference one season makes. Even as the 2020 season was lining up, the LA Rams hinted, insinuated, and talked around the topic of wanting more out of the quarterback position.  If you recall, the LA Rams made it a point to work intensively with last year’s quarterback to improve his ability to throw off-schedule and from multiple platforms.  It seemed to help in the early part of the 2020 season.  Well, for a while, as old habits are tough to fix.

So the LA Rams opted to trade for a veteran quarterback who already had plenty of finesse to throw off-schedule and from multiple platforms: Matthew Stafford.  Of course, having played for the Detroit Lions on an offense that struggled to gain 100+ yards on the ground, the ability to pass under pressure was a learned trait. As in many other areas of life, education is something nobody can take from you. Stafford’s On-the-Job-Training (OJT) became part of his resume and is what attracted the LA Rams head coach Sean McVay to push hard for the trade.

There is, however, the old adage of ‘Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it.’ which implies that the desire to add Stafford to the roster might overwhelm the experience of having him. So far, that is not proving to be the case.3

The LA Rams are taking it slowly with Matthew Stafford. For now, the team has been limiting Stafford to throwing drills to individual receivers and not in seven-on-seven drills. Even with the limited exposure to the full Rams offense, Stafford has been raising eyebrows and optimism through the Rams organization with even the small sampling of what he can do for the team.

We know that veteran wide receiver, DeSean Jackson, has already made statements in interviews expressing significant optimism about this Rams offense. Jackson is newly-arrived on the team, and as such he has a solid perspective to assess the Rams offensive potential. Now, head coach Sean McVay is showing signs of being uncharacteristically optimistic very early in the team’s offseason training program.

Analyzing the LA Rams quarterback and his range of throws suggests that he is nearly as versatile as Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes in resolving a heated pass rush by throwing off-sequence and with multi-positional throwing motions. While we are all hopeful that will prove to be the case when the 2021 season starts, both Jackson and now McVay’s reactions indicate that will truly be the case this year.

The Rams gave up a lot to acquire veteran quarterback Matthew Stafford. Early indications out of training camp make me believe that he was worth every penny.