Could LA Rams successor to Matthew Stafford already be on the roster?

The Los Angeles Rams will have to prepare for life after Matthew Stafford at some point, but could that life already be on the roster? One of the more underrated moves that any team made this offseason was when the Los Angeles Rams decided to sign Jimmy Garoppolo to a free agency deal.

Garoppolo is going to be suspended for the first two games of the 2024 NFL Season, but you can figure that he was signed to be the backup to Matthew Stafford. Garoppolo is no stranger to the LA Rams or the NFC West, where he played from 2017-2022 with the San Francisco 49ers. Jimmy G was one of the more controversial starting QBs in the NFL.

He's 43-20 in 63 career starts, so there is no denying that his teams win when he's on the field, but it's clear that Garoppolo isn't someone who typically led his teams to victory. In many instances, teams won with Garoppolo, not because of him.

Well, could the LA Rams have a different view of the Super Bowl-champion QB? He's turning 33 years old this November, so he's got some youth against Matthew Stafford, and if the Rams are looking at an off-ramp to move on from Stafford, especially if they are expecting a decline, could Garoppolo be that guy?

He just might be. In fact, he's got an 8-0 record against the Rams in his career, and in those games, he's thrown for 12 touchdowns and seven interceptions. He earned a 100+ passer rating in foru of those eight starts, so he was carving the Rams defenses up during his 8-0 domination over the franchise.

While Garoppolo would certainly not be a long-term solution, if there is anyone who saw how much he won with the 49ers, it's Sean McVay. Maybe this signing was something more than a one or two-year backup solution. Perhaps I'm way off base here.

But when you look at how weak the 2025 NFL Draft class is at QB, the Rams might not feel confident in someone from a future draft. They may instead turn to a battle-tested veteran who has won a ton of games in the NFL. With Matthew Stafford maybe not having more than a year or two left, Jimmy Garoppolo could be on deck.