Is a QB Imperative for Rams in 2026 Draft?

Matthew Stafford's plans for his 2026 season have seemed to ignite more conversations than what's ahead in 2025 for the Los Angeles Rams QB. Despite a two-year extension to stay in L.A., the 37-year-old vet is not guaranteed to play in his 18th season after this one.

On a recent edition of "The Los Angeles Rams Insider Podcast", Host Claudette Montana asked On SI Senior Writer Hondo Carpenter his thoughts on Stafford's future and if the Rams need to start planning for life after their Pro Bowl QB.

"Well, that's two different questions there, Claudette", replied Carpenter. "So let's take the second one first. Do they have to start planning for the future? Yes, but Les Snead's your general manager. He's already been planning for the future before Matthew Stafford was the future. He's probably already thinking about the future, past, the future, and that's just what makes him a great general manager. Number one, so do they have to start planning? Yes, and they already are."

"Do they absolutely have to pick a quarterback at 26? The answer is no, and that may surprise some people, but I need to give it some contextual balance, so that you understand where I'm coming from. When Jared Goff, when it was clear that in the Rams system, that he and Sean McVay were not going to mesh together and work, they were then able to quickly pivot, even though they'd given him a big deal. Move on. Go to Detroit. Get Stafford."

"There's going to be some very good potential quarterbacks in '26. We already know that. We've talked about it ad nauseum. You're sitting there and your Les Snead, then you've got to decide, 'Okay, depending on where we end up in the draft order, how much do I have to give up to go get somebody that I believe in, and who do I believe in?' And then if, because he doesn't know where he's at, all right, who's going to be available, or who's going to come out.? Then the next question is, 'Is there anything out there that I can go pull the trigger on right now or wait until the end of the year?'"

"I don't know if I would say they have to draft a quarterback, but I would say it would it absolutely be an important detail to add a quarterback to the fold next year, whether by trade, free agency or whatever that may be."

There have been scenarios in the past where teams look for diamonds on other teams' rosters, as the savvy general managers are always looking to poach undiscovered talent from rosters. It's just a case of knowing what's going on in every NFL locale.

Ron Wolf was an executive, a Raider Legend, and then he goes to run the Green Bay Packers. And they were looking at what they were going to do at quarterback. There was a lot of talk, 'Do the Packers have to go get a quarterback?' And Ron Wolf went to Atlanta and got a kid that many thought was going to get cut from the Falcons, by the name of Brett Favre because he knew [him] and because he believed in him, and that is what the best GMs do. They're unicorns. They know everybody's roster better than they [other teams] know it".

Carpenter concluded, "And so Les Snead may be sitting up here in his beautiful Rams throne this morning, thinking, 'All right, you know what? Everybody thinks I want one of these quarterbacks', and maybe he does, but there's this backup guy sitting over here on this other roster that other people don't value, that I think can be really good and Les Snead's not arrogant, but you know, he's sitting there thinking, 'I know he can be good. I trust me, I'm going to go get him.' So I wouldn't say [they] have to draft a quarterback, but certainly it would behoove them to add a new quarterback to the stables before Matthew Stafford says, 'Adios, amigos'"