What are the LA Rams post-Matthew Stafford quarterback plans?

When it comes to the LA Rams offense, veteran starting quarterback Matthew Stafford is the undeniable face of the franchise. He is the guy who showed up and in his first NFL season playing for HC Sean McVay, led the team to victory in Super Bowl LVI. While the team's 12-5 record was something new for Stafford, his ability to connect with veteran WR Cooper Kupp was not. Kupp fell short of the NFL All-Time Single Season Receiver Record by less than 20 yards.

That record was set by Detroit Lions WR Calvin Johnson, who caught passes by QB Matthew Stafford.

What did change for the no-look passing veteran quarterback is his proficiency in the postseason. 0-3 as a starter in the NFL Playoffs for the Detroit Lions, Stafford was on fire and burned through all competition to land the Rams as the rightful owners of the Lombardi Trophy as he led the team to a 4-0 postseason record.

How quickly the NFL forgets, eh?

That's horrific, and is just one minor example of the perspective that somehow, someway, veteran QB Matthew Stafford has lost his NFL proficiency. That in itself is pretty unbelievable, because he earned just his second Pro Bowl honors in 2023 out of his 15 NFL seasons. So it seems that Stafford is not getting older, he is getting better.

The most ironic aspect of the 'ranking' subject falls on the fact that Matthew Stafford played just 15 games in 2023. Oh, and he was the main reason why rookie WR Puka Nacua set the All-Time Rookie Receiver Record in 2023.

So that makes the NFL single-season record holders all catching passes from the same NFL quarterback. So, how can he be 42nd out of 100 NFL players? Of the quarterbacks listed above, which if any can claim the same? Can any of those quarterbacks be so good as the contribute to their receiver's record shattering season? Of has the NFL gotten so effective at marketing the NFL Draft that rookies and young quarterbacks are ranked far higher than the veterans whose careers have shown an ability not just to play well for good teams, but to play well for bad teams too?

Yet, now that the LA Rams and veteran QB Matthew Stafford have settled their contractual controversy, NFL rumors are beginning to grow over the belief that this could be the last season for Stafford in a Rams jersey. Let's think that through a bit and see if it holds water.

After 2024, the Rams QB room shrinks to just two quarterbacks

The LA Rams did not draft a quarterback in the 2024 NFL Draft. There were two reasons for that. Due to his age at 36 years old, the team did not wish to send the wrong signals to their starting quarterback, a signal that would certainly have complicated any off-season contractual negotiations.

As it is, the Rams did not address the quarterback room in the draft. The team is counting on the combination of reserve QB Dresser Winn, second-year QB Stetson Bennett, and newly signed veteran QB Jimmy Garoppolo. So why am I not considering Jimmy G as the heir apparent to Matthew Stafford as some believe him to be?

Well, ESPN's NFL Analyst Jeremy Fowler (who often has good insight) seems to take this all a step too far when he equates the Rams willingness to play the White Knight for one more (the third) tarnished veteran NFL quarterback. After rectifying the careers of veteran quarterbacks Baker Mayfield (2022) and Carson Wentz (2023), the Rams were a bit more proactive and added veteran QB Jimmy Garoppolo for the 2024 NFL season.

While the team did add a former foe to the roster, there are two problems with the team viewing Garoppolo as the next successor to Stafford. You see, the first problem with that theory is that the Rams did not sign Jimmy G to a multi-year deal. That unto itself creates a huge disconnect in any plans to have him 'take over' after 2024.

You see, it he does not play well enough to warrant an extension, he remains affordable. But why would the team re-sign a guy who cannot pilot this offense as effectively as hoped? So the only hope is that he does get to play and exhibits tremendous control of this team and offensive weapons, right? Well, that will only serve to push up his asking price on an APY (average per year) cost basis.

More importantly, Garoppolo is not young either. In fact, he is about to turn 33 years old this season. So on a more pragmatic sense, just how many more seasons are the Rams getting if they no longer have QB Matthew Stafford as an option in 2025, and are thereby compelled to re-sign Jimmy Garoppolo? I don't think that is part of the team's current long-term strategy.

McVay is not tapping the brakes on praising Stafford

I believe that the key to all of this speculation about the future of the LA Rams offense, and whether or not veteran QB Matthew Stafford will return to compete in 2025 is how Rams HC Sean McVay talks about his starting quarterback. After all, it was McVay who first brainstormed the idea of trading with the Detroit Lions for the rights to Stafford. And it was McVay who lobbied team owner Stan Kroenke for the authority to sweeten the pot to ensure that the Rams emerged with Matthew Stafford in Horns.

Since adding Stafford, Coach McVay has been nothing short of complete awe of his starting quarterback. He continues to trust his quarterback without question or reservations. And that is quite apparent in his voice and manner in which he describes Stafford's ability to make positive plays when the pocket breaks down around him.

And why should he? Stafford put up a gutsy 2023 performance that many describe as one of the best of his NFL Career. Think about it. He did not thrown to NFL All-Pro wide receivers all season. Kupp was active for just 12 games, and was hampered by injuries for many of the games that he did play. WR Puka Nacua was a record setting rookie, but nobody knew his name in 2023 until Stafford led him to the promised land.

In fact, many of the team's offensive weapons in the passing game were better than expected thanks to the passing prowess of Stafford. And the team invested in bolstering the offensive line, the rushing attack, and the tight end room to afford Stafford incentive to come back and pilot an offense that has upgraded from a PT boat to a destroyer.

Could Bennett be the bridge until the team drafts the next franchise QB?

When the LA Rams drafted former Georgia QB Stetson Bennett in Round 4 of the 2023 NFL Draft, the move surprised nearly everyone. Some were shocked that the team would draft any quarterback, a position that they had never addressed in the draft since Sean McVay took over the team in 2017. Some were shocked that the team selected Bennett, a player who they believed would be available in later rounds. And still others were surprised that the team viewed the quarterback position as one that needed an infusion of rookie talents.

But everyone lined up for the compulsory 'I told you so,' when Bennett was placed on IR/NFI for the entirety of the 2023 NFL season. Some insisted that Stetson Bennett was either released by the team or would be as soon as the team regrouped for the 2024 NFL season.

So far, Stetson Bennett is still competing for a roster spot, and by the reports out of training camp, seems to be doing quite well. In fact, Pro Football Talks Mike Florio, who is not known for his objective or complimentary articles regarding the LA Rams, wrote a rather positive piece about backup quarterback Stetson Bennett.

"(He, i.e. Stetson Bennett) had some really good reps [and] some things where we can be a little bit cleaner, but what you do see from Stetson is the athleticism. If we lose contain up front, he can break it and make plays with his legs and I think that is good for whether it is our first group or our second group to understand because there are going to be some guys like that on the schedule that we cannot get lulled to sleep and just thinking they are always going to be in that spot if we lose the integrity of our rush lane"

HC Sean McVay

That is a pretty solid assessment of Bennett, particularly from the team's head coach. So how shoud fans interpret all of this? Well, it's safe to say that Stetson Bennett is part of the team's long-term future plans.

Let's go with the pessimistic projections that the team and Stafford have agreed that 2024 is the last season for him to compete, and that he has expressed his desire to retire from the NFL after this season. The only quarterback under contract for this team after 2024 in that case is QB Stetson Bennett. I do not see that as a mistake or coincidence.

If this team must 'start over' as soon as 2025, or 2026, then Bennett's presence on this roster is vital. Unlike rookies who are thrown to the deep end of the swimming pool and forced to sink or swim in live NFL action, the team is unlikely to push prospective quarterbacks into danger so quickly.

And just for the record, this moment was part of Stetson Bennett's college career:

Rams fans may not have seen the best of Bennett just yet, but I would tune in to the preseason games. Even as he will be playing with backups, I expect that he will have a much better command of the offense, and will get far more help in terms of offensive weapons and blocking.

If Stafford truly seeks to step away from the NFL after the 2024 NFL season, the team will continue to enter the 2025 NFL Draft with a pick in Round 1. That pick will then almost certainly be used to add a talented quarterback prospect to the mix.

Whether or not the LA Rams and QB Matthew Stafford continue on past the 2024 NFL season is simply not something we will know. But however the future turns out, you can rest easy knowing that this team has everything under control.

As always, thanks for reading.