Aug 9, 2025; Inglewood, California, USA; Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott (4) shakes hands with Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford after the game at SoFi Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

Former NFL Player Has Important Question Regarding Stafford’s Future

Originally posted on Los Angeles Rams on SI
By Zak Gilbert | Last updated Aug 13, 2025 7:00 AM ET

Just 32 minutes up the 5 Freeway from the Rams’ headquarters is a hypercoaster at Six Flags Magic Mountain. Known as Goliath, it drops 255 feet and travels 85 miles per hour.

Since Saturday night, the Rams have endured even more twists and turns than that ride. After an encouraging workout prior to the preseason opener against the Cowboys, Stafford’s aggravated disc flared up in his back and the Rams had to scrap plans for his return to practice Monday.

And one former NFL player is feeling a little like strapping into Goliath, after eating a pizza.

“Scary as hell,” said nine-year NFL veteran Marcus Spears on Tuesday’s edition of Get Up. “Okay, I don’t care what anybody says. Miss me with all the, ‘Preseason, it don’t matter.’ Yes, Matthew Stafford knows football, he knows the playbook, he knows Sean McVay.

“What happens seven days after the first week of the season, after he potentially gets hit once or twice, in a real football game? That’s my issue. That’s my focus. I’m scared as hell for Matthew Stafford and the Rams.”

Plenty of dangerous pass rushers in first three weeks

The first week of the season means Houston edge rushers Danielle Hunter and Will Anderson, who combined for 23 sacks last season. And after Jeffery Simmons and the Titans in Week 2, Stafford and the Rams draw the Eagles in Week 3. In the last game Philadelphia played, its Super Bowl victory over Kansas City, the Eagles sacked Patrick Mahomes six times – more than any game in the quarterback’s career – and did it without calling a single blitz.

But McVay isn’t thinking about six weeks from now. The Rams’ head coach is thinking about the team’s approach now.

“More than anything,” McVay said Monday, “I feel for a guy that I really care about that wants to be out there more than anything else. We're going to be smart. But he didn't feel good enough and we didn't think it was the right thing to do based on how he woke up feeling today.”

Before he woke up, Stafford was scheduled to take his first practice snaps this preseason in individual drills, without all 11 players on offense.

Still planning on Week 1

McVay added the team hasn’t discussed surgery, and will continue to embrace a flexible and fluid approach while erring on the side of caution.

“There's been a lot of conversations about what's the best method of how we want to approach it,” he said.

The head coach stopped short of answering the hypothetical of whether Stafford could start a regular-season game this week and said how he feels is a one-day-at-a-time approach.

Los Angeles opens the 2025 season in 25 days at home against the Texans.

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This article first appeared on Los Angeles Rams on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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