All eyes turn to front office to see how Rams handle QB succession in 2025

The Los Angeles Rams front office understands that the NFL career of veteran QB Matthew Stafford will come to a close sooner than later. Since the team cannot mandate Stafford to stay active in his NFL career, the entire premise of guaranteed money has been a difficult one to broach. The Rams want to pay Stafford, yet do not want to be holding the bag if and when Stafford retires. It was that challenge that complicated the contract discussions in the past two seasons.

Even now, with both sides agreeing to how they want to handle 2025, there is another elephant in the room. Who is the logical successor to Matthew Stafford when he wants to hang up his football cleats? In 2025, the Rams have re-signed veteran QB Jimmy Garoppolo. He will rejoin young QB Stetson Bennett to return the quarterback room to 2024 standards.

The team also understands the value of adding that next-chapter quarterback in 2025. Per Rams GM Les Snead, there is a significant advantage to adding that quarterback to the roster now, and letting that young hurler learn as much as he can from Matthew Stafford now. That strategy was revealed by The Athletic's Jourdan Rodrigue:

So how do the Rams pull that off? Well, the team has reset the quarterback board to ensure that no rookie quarterback will find himself promoted to a starting role before he is ready. And that is a huge factor, as it opens the options up to raw and talented quarterbacks who need more work and coaching to be NFL caliber. But what about the Rams other quarterbacks? How does this all impact the Rams depth chart in 2025? Let's pause other discussions to focus on that right now:

Stetson Bennett no longer stands alone

The fact that Stetson Bennett returns for his third NFL season despite walking away from the game in 2023 should be seen as a positive factor. It takes a lot of mental toughness to get back on the horse, and despite throwing interceptions, Bennett's fierce competitiveness was on full display in wining both preseason games he played in 2024

Bennett's ability to connect with wide receivers Jordan Whittington and Xavier Smith was not just solid for his own place on the Rams roster, but he opened the door to bigger and better things with the Rams for them as well. The team managed to smooth things over with veteran Matthew Stafford, and re-sign Jimmy Garoppolo. But I foresee Stetson Bennett as the quarterback who made the most progress of the group in 2024. Since the Rams need a quarterback to start in preseason games, we'll see how much or little progress Bennett has made this preseason.

Jimmy Garoppolo remains a veteran backup

The Los Angeles Rams understand that they need a talented and seasoned backup quarterback to step in if Matthew Stafford suffers injuries. And Stafford suffered injuries in 2022, 2023, and 2024. So their reliance upon Garoppolo as an insurance policy is grounded in objective evidence. While he did not win his lone start with the Rams, Garoppolo showed full command of the offense despite the fact that the Rams started backups in Week 18.

Garoppolo is not an All-Pro. But he does have a confident presence in the pocket when directing this offense. And he gets that confidence from his coaching staff. While I am a bit uncertain how the dynamics of Garoppolo and newly-signed WR Davante Adams will play out after Adams trash talked Garoppolo to the bench and ultimately off the team, the coaches seem to be in strong support of Jimmy G.

I don't know if the Rams can win in the postseason behind Jimmy Garoppolo. But I am confident that the team can win regular season games with him starting at quarterback.

Looks like Rams will try the NFL Draft one more time

When it comes to the NFL Draft, the Rams tend to be contrarians. That is, when many teams invested heavily into cornerbacks in the 2024 NFL Draft due to the abundance of talent, the Rams passed on selecting any. Meanwhile, the team selected two defensive tackles from a draft that was viewed by many draft analysts to be light in quantity and quality at the position.

Despite the consensus of NFL Draft analysts as to the lack of outstanding quarterback prospects in the 2025 NFL Draft, there are enough prospects to give GM Les Snead plenty of options. And if you follow former Rams legendary QB Kurt Warner, you know that he has a much better impression of rookie quarterbacks that is commonly accepted:

The sentiment that the Rams will draft a quarterback is getting some NFL experts backing.

Albert Breer sees the Rams drafting a quarterback this year

NFL Insider Albert Breer was asked about the possibility of the Rams drafting a quarterback this year. And he confirms what we've been hearing too:

The Rams may wish to draft a quarterback in this draft, but the team is not compelled to do so. That means that it will fall to the right guy on the draft board when the Rams make a selection. Without a need to reach, the team has a huge advantage. What I mean is that there are many talented players who may fall to the Rams as other teams are compelled to reach for roster needs early. If the board plays out for the team, there may even be an opportunity to trade back to add more picks without risking losing the chance to select a top player.

The Rams have a chance to pick and park a talented quarterback on the roster for a year or two. Will they?

That's what makes the annual NFL Draft so very exciting. As always, thank you so much for reading.

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