LA Rams: Matthew Stafford, zip, injuries, birds and QBees

Suppose the stache guy is on the market?

If you want to take a flyer on a young and talented quarterback who has some stuff to prove, you may want to dangle a late draft pick in front of the Jacksonville Jaguars to see if that gets a nibble over trading backup Gardner Minshew?  Right now, the word on the street is that a sixth-round pick would be enough to pry the guy away from the Jaguars. Now, why would the LA Rams front office want to do such a thing?

Well, he’s very young, entering just his third NFL season. And he already has a strong body of work, having played in 23 games and started in 20 already. He boasts a 63 percent accuracy and has an eye-popping 37 touchdowns to 11 interceptions. Best of all, he’s done all of this while playing for the Jacksonville Jaguars. While he most certainly wants the opportunity to compete for a starting role, he could be an ideal successor to the LA Rams offense if he comes, learns from Matthew Stafford, and builds up to a starting role if and when the opportunity presents itself.

If you want value, Minshew is your man. The guy’s salary hit over the 2021 and 2022 seasons combined are less than $2 million. That’s the next two seasons under contract. Right now, even John Wolford’s contract expires at the end of the 2021 season. Minshew carries over to 2023, and at that time the LA Rams would be in a much better position to re-sign a deserving backup if warranted.

Minshew would be a good understudy to Stafford. He is already an accomplished young quarterback who has a rifle of an arm. So much so that Peter King broke down his first three starts as a rookie.

And that’s what is so impressive. The Jacksonville Jaguars had the top pick in the 2021 NFL Draft, a pick that mandated the selection of former Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence. They had to go with Lawrence, right? And by doing so, the impressive arm of Gardner Minshew is plopped on the bench.

Imagine this arm in the LA Rams offense. For a sixth-round pick? At a cost of less than $1 million per season. That’s a lot of quarterback for pocket change folks. And right now, the LA Rams need to look beyond the starters and build the best roster possible.

The goal here is not to make a ‘gotta get this guy now’ case for any of these quarterbacks. It’s simply to point out that the LA Rams quarterback situation may seem all hunky-dory in shorts and tee-shirts. But when it’s an NFL game and the LA Rams are clinging to a three-point lead, I want the best chances of winning that game.  I love the guys on the team. It comes down to this.

I have a concern.

Time for the LA Rams front office to stop, look, and listen. I think that the LA Rams can do better. And whether or not they ponder any of these backup quarterback candidates, I hope they take one more look at boosting the talent level in the quarterback room. There’s still time.