Should Rams Consider Future Move For Former QB?

The Los Angeles Rams have yet to address a future after Matthew Stafford, and while they have two first-round picks in 2026, perhaps the team is not ready to bring in a young quarterback to groom and would rather bring in a veteran who is plug and play while making financial sense.

The reality of the modern NFL is this: the notion that if a team pays their quarterback, they won't be able to compete for a Super Bowl is dead, and it's been dead for some time.

When was the last quarterback to win a Super Bowl on a rookie contract? Patrick Mahomes during the 2019 season. He then won two more on a big-money extension. Stafford won his ring on an extension and did Jalen Hurts this past season.

As it turns out, if a team is really good at drafting, especially on the defensive side of the football, the team is able to afford a quarterback and several star players. The Eagles just won a Super Bowl with Hurts, Saquon Barkley, AJ Brown, Devonta Smith, Dallas Goedert, Lane Johnson, and several defensive players on big money.

The Rams have a similar financial situation to the Eagles right now and if we look to when Stafford's contract with the team expires (after 2026 season), the Rams would be able to afford a quarterback under $45 million per year if the cap keeps rising at it's expected rate.

The same offseason Stafford is set to leave Los Angeles, former Rams quarterback Baker Mayfield is set to be a free agent. Mayfield was one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL last season despite losing Mike Evans and Chris Godwin for an extended period of time.

Mayfield put up career highs across the board. That includes turnovers but with Mayfield, it's feast or fire but when he has a competent coach and an average team surrounding him, he wins.

In 2024, Mayfield had a 71.4 completion percentage as he threw for 4,500 yards, 41 touchdowns, 16 interceptions, and 378 rushing yards with three touchdowns. That was in Liam Coen's offense and not throwing shade, McVay's offense is better than Coen's, as Coen's derives off of McVay's.

McVay doesn't want a rebuild. The idea of one almost led him to retirement in 2022. Ask anyone around the NFL, no one in college or even at the high school level, are developing quarterbacks properly.

They're desperate for wins, so they're sticking quarterbacks into shotgun-based systems that simplify offenses to produce instant results but limit creativity and thus championship-level output. Don't believe me, look at Ole Miss and you'll likely find many of the reasons why the Rams didn't make a move for Jaxson Dart.

Mayfield is an instant fit who would be loved in the locker room. The Rams would be set financially, being able to retain all their stars, and Mayfield wins. It's never pretty, but it happens.

Mayfield led the Browns to their only playoff win ever in this millennium, he's won two straight NFC South titles, and would have taken a second straight trip to the NFC Divisional Round if his defense wasn't a wet paper towel.

Mayfield is currently the all-time leader in playoff passer rating.