Rams' Sean McVay makes feelings on Matthew Stafford trade rumors clear

Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay raised eyebrows in January when he was noncommittal about Matthew Stafford remaining the club's starting quarterback. Stafford has since been granted permission to speak with other teams regarding his value and a potential trade. 

During the latest edition of the "Fitz & Whit" podcast, McVay made it clear he wants Stafford to be his QB1 through at least 2025. 

"There’s no discrepancy on us wanting him to continue to lead the way and be our quarterback," McVay explained, as shared by Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk and Ross McCorkle of Steelers Depot. "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 is no dispute — and let’s not get it twisted in regarding 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 turned 37 years old on February 7 and, per Florio, is due to make $27M for the 2025 campaign. The one-time Super Bowl champion reportedly wants to earn closer to $50M per season via an extension that the Rams haven't yet given him, but McVay insisted during the interview that holding onto Stafford is the club's "plan A" for its quarterback situation. 

"There's no doubt that's what we want," McVay insisted. 

Reports surfaced indicating other teams "are skeptical that Stafford would leave the Rams." In short, quarterback-needy clubs seem to believe Stafford is using interest from other franchises as a way to receive more money from Los Angeles. That makes sense considering there aren't a plethora of desirable landing spots available to him in the closing weeks of winter. 

According to Jake Brockhoff of Steelers Depot, ESPN NFL insider Adam Schefter doesn't envision the Pittsburgh Steelers acquiring Stafford. As much as New York Giants general manager Joe Schoen may want to take a big "swing" this offseason, that team just went 3-14 and isn't a quarterback away from becoming a contender. The Cleveland Browns also went 3-14 this past season and may soon feel forced to trade wantaway pass-rusher Myles Garrett. 

Meanwhile, the Rams hold overall pick No. 26 in the 2025 draft, a draft that, in the eyes of analysts, features a weak quarterback group. Sam Darnold of the Minnesota Vikings is on track to become the top signal-caller available in free agency, but there are concerns that he could prove to be little more than a one-year wonder outside of the offense run by Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell. 

"We've had conversations where he could probably play however much longer he wants," McVay added about Stafford, "but it's been on a year-to-year in terms of our dialogue. Now, is that one, is that two? Only he can answer that."

Even if Stafford only wishes to play one more season, logic suggests he and the Rams will work out the details for an expected reunion before the draft gets underway on April 24. For a piece published Wednesday morning, ESPN's Seth Walder predicted that the Rams-Stafford situation will "simply be solved with more money."