The Los Angeles Rams are set to meet with quarterback Matthew Stafford at their facility in person today regarding his future, according to NFL insider Dianna Russini. The Las Vegas Raiders and New York Giants have discussed a two-year contract for Stafford that includes $90-100M guaranteed. A decision is expected soon.
Ian Rapoport of NFL Network added that Stafford returning to the Rams “feels more likely” than a few days ago when it “appeared he was set to leave.”
He also noted that it’s really between the New York Giants, Las Vegas Raiders and Rams. So it appears the Pittsburgh Steelers are out of the sweepstakes for Stafford, and likely were never major contenders.
Stafford coincidentally bumped into Raiders minority owner Tom Brady at a ski resort in Montana, fueling speculation that Stafford could land in Sin City. The Rams have permitted Matthew Stafford’s agent, Jimmy Sexton, to gauge a trade market for the signal-caller, so tampering did not take place.
Stafford has only $4 million guaranteed over the two remaining seasons on his contract. Even in allowing him to see options elsewhere, Los Angeles head coach Sean McVay has been on record that he would prefer to keep Stafford around.
McVay explained what’s going on while appearing on the “Fitz & Whit” podcast with former NFL players Ryan Fitzpatrick and Andrew Whitworth.
“There’s no discrepancy on us wanting him to continue to lead the way and be our quarterback,” McVay said. “The interesting and the challenging dilemma and dynamics within this are, ‘Hey, how do you continuously as a head coach look at the short term and the long term and be able to figure out what does that really look like?’
“There’s no dispute — and let’s not get it twisted in regards to anybody wanting him to be our quarterback. Now, there’s layers to it. You have to be able to say, ‘Hey, how do we continuously build? How do we support him? How do we make sure that he’s getting what is his worth relative to those things?’”
Stafford, who’s 37 and heading into his 17th NFL season, threw for 3,762 yards, 20 touchdowns, and eight interceptions last season.