Matthew Stafford was once by no means leaving the Rams, and the Rams it seems that knew it

Generally, NFL gamers signal two or 3 profession contracts, at maximum. Some, like Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford, do a couple of greater than that.NFL groups do masses. They’ve the experience. They know the markets, the precedents. Extra correctly, they know their gamers.It now seems that Stafford was once by no means going to go away the Rams, and that he flirted with the Raiders and Giants so as to get the Rams to kick in a little bit extra money for 2025. There is a just right probability the Rams knew it.It might provide an explanation for their willingness to let him communicate to different groups. If it was once their overview that Stafford wasn’t going to uproot his circle of relatives for a crew with a lesser number of ability, why no longer let him communicate to different groups? The Rams come off as magnanimous and selfless. When you love one thing, set it loose.It is more straightforward to set it loose while you know it’s going to by no means fly away.Whilst we do not know the particular numbers that the Raiders and Giants presented, indications persist that each groups had been within the vary of 2 years, $100 million. Rams trainer Sean McVay’s feedback from Monday make it transparent that it is a one-year deal, with Stafford’s standing past that to be found out subsequent yr.”Final yr, it took about seven months,” McVay advised newshounds. “This yr, about 3 weeks. Perhaps it’s going to be about two or 3 days subsequent yr if we need to do that.”Final yr, Stafford did not get a lot of an adjustment to his contract. This yr, our semi-educated prediction is that the Rams at first had been prepared to bump his reimbursement bundle from $27 million to more or less $36 million — and that the Rams moved to $40 million after Stafford discovered pastime somewhere else.The Rams held company with a some distance decrease quantity than the will have gotten from a brand new crew. There is a just right probability they knew he’d take it.We will put up the overall numbers as soon as they are to be had. Despite the fact that Stafford has performed neatly sufficient to get an annual moderate beginning with a 5, it’s going to most probably be a 4.And it may well be proper at $40 million for 12 months. With the following yr TBD.