Rams fans are staring at a dream trade scenario that feels painfully unrealistic

The biggest storyline for the Los Angeles Rams this offseason will be what Matthew Stafford decides to do next. Will he retire or will he return for an 18th NFL season? If he does decide to retire and call it a career, who will be the next starting quarterback for the Rams?

While interviewing Domonique Foxworth on his show on Wednesday, Dan Patrick floated quite the idea for the next signal-caller of the Rams. His suggestion was for the Rams to go after Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow. Foxworth entertained the idea but said it was pretty unlikely to happen.

"I was wondering about this. It may be crazy and off topic here, but let's say Matthew Stafford decides he's gonna retire. You're the Rams... Do you reach out to the Bengals? What do you think?" Patrick asked Foxworth on The Dan Patrick Show while also mentioning that the Rams have two first-round picks.
"I'm hanging up the phone if I'm the Bengals and you reach out for Joe Burrow for that. Like I think for Joe Burrow to move, it's gonna require him to force his way out," Foxworth replied. "You rarely see football players force their way out, especially quarterbacks... If anyone moves on from their top level quarterback who's still in their prime, when quarterbacks are playing for 20 years, I know Burrow's been injured a lot, but moving on from your quarterback, you will lose everybody. Because you are then acquiring a bunch of draft picks in hopes that you can find someone nearly as good as Joe Burrow."

Joe Burrow to Rams idea teased as Stafford retirement questions grow

The thought of Burrow replacing Stafford in Los Angeles would have Rams fans all sorts of excited but, as Foxworth pointed out, it's probably not happening. First of all, the Rams would have to offer a ton to land the Bengals star quarterback and it wouldn't really make sense for Cincinnati to entertain that trade.

Stafford is turning 38 years old next week and it wouldn't be a surprise if he decided to call it a career. He's been at this since the 2009 NFL season when the Lions took him with the first overall pick, played in Detroit for 12 years, and then helped the Rams win a Super Bowl during his first year in L.A. It's been a dream scenario for Rams fans and Burrow would be a much bigger swing but man, it'd be a pretty awesome deal if it somehow worked out.

When the Rams won it all in the 2021 season, Burrow was the quarterback they beat in Super Bowl 56, narrowly taking down him and the Bengals in the final seconds of regulation. The one issue with Burrow during his pro career has been that he's struggled to stay healthy but Rams fans would still likely be okay with giving up a king's ransom to land him because Burrow is that good.

Again, this isn't a serious idea that's been floated out there, just something that Dan Patrick was thinking out loud about but Rams fans wouldn't object if the team wanted to go in this direction. If Stafford is done playing, why not go big or go home and try and land Joe Burrow? More Super Bowls could easily be on the horizon if it panned out.