For the second straight season and the third time in four years, Matthew Stafford led the Los Angeles Rams to the playoffs. Already a Super Bowl champion, Stafford nearly took the Rams to the NFC title game with another terrific performance in the divisional round on Sunday – a game the Rams lost, 28-22.
As good as Stafford has been in Los Angeles for the last four seasons, there are questions about his future with the Rams. Not only will he turn 37 on Feb. 7, but his contract was restructured in the offseason in a way that allows the two sides to either go their separate ways, or come back to the negotiating table to discuss a new deal.
So what does his current contract say about his future with the Rams? It doesn’t guarantee that he’ll be back for another season because it essentially turned into a one-year, $40 million deal in 2024.
According to Tom Pelissero of NFL Network, Stafford “gave up his other 2025 guarantees” when the two sides restructured his deal last July, moving up money to 2024 in the form of a $12.5 million signing bonus and $23.5 million guaranteed salary.
#Rams QB Matthew Stafford’s revised contract:
$12.5M signing bonus
$23.5M guaranteed 2024 salary
$4M guaranteed March roster bonusEffectively, it’s a one-year, $40 million deal. He gave up his other 2025 guarantees. Translation: Play this season and then all sides reassess. pic.twitter.com/sZeqxAIRLa
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) July 30, 2024
What’s interesting is that Stafford has a $4 million signing bonus due on the third day of the new league year, which begins on March 12. If anything is going to happen with Stafford and his contract, it’ll likely take place before March 15.
Matthew Stafford has a $4M roster bonus due in mid-March, and his contract has been set up as a “we’ll see” for 2025 and beyond. The money doesn’t create a hard deadline for a decision, but surely the Rams will want an idea of things 2 months from now.
— Jonathan Jones (@jjones9) January 20, 2025
Stafford technically has two years left on his contract but only $4 million of his salary is guaranteed in 2025 and there’s no guaranteed salary left in 2026. He does have the aforementioned $4 million roster bonus in 2025 and another $5 million bonus in 2026, but as a whole, there isn’t much guaranteed money left on his contract – in part because he and the Rams moved a lot of it up a year or two with the restructure in July.
If Stafford wants to keep playing and the Rams want him back, the likeliest scenario is they get a new contract done before March 15. Neither Sean McVay nor Stafford wanted to comment on the future after Sunday’s loss, but there’s no question this will be a conversation in the coming months.
Stafford gives the Rams the best chance to win and with no succession plan in place, they’d be wise to bring him back for at least another year or two until they can find a younger replacement to eventually take the reins.
