Los Angeles permitting quarterback Matthew Stafford to gauge his value with other clubs has provided plenty of hoopla for the offseason.
As far as Rams head coach Sean McVay is concerned, the goal remains using the information gathered to come to an agreement that keeps his QB in L.A.
"When you talk about the elephant in the room, these are the things that are really challenging," McVay said on the Fitz & Whit podcast. "Because there's no discrepancy on us wanting him to continue to lead the way and be our quarterback. 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 regards 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? So, at the end of the day, we had something in mind, he had something in mind, and nobody was right or wrong. And then ultimately you're saying there's a ton of interest because this guy is an incredible player."
Stafford has been a rock for the Rams since joining them via trade in 2021.
He tied his career high with 41 touchdowns that first season and led Los Angeles to a Super Bowl LVI victory. He made the Pro Bowl in 2023 and has reached the playoffs in three of four years with the team.
He's also 37, heading into Year 17 with a laundry list of injuries suffered throughout his storied career. Just in his time with Los Angeles, he's undergone elbow surgery on his throwing arm, missed the back half of the 2022 campaign due to a spinal cord contusion and sprained his UCL.
At the start of training camp in July 2024, Stafford and the Rams agreed to an adjusted contract that provided him $23.5 million in guarantees while taking away most of his guaranteed money for 2025, allowing the two parties to reassess at a later time.
That time has now come.
What is known for sure is that Stafford intends to keep playing; the questions that remain are for how much and for whom.
To answer those with as much transparency as possible, L.A. recently allowed Stafford's camp to speak to other teams about his market value, hoping that sussing out his worth will lead to a better understanding in a successful negotiation.
There's also the possibility that other teams desperate for a QB drive the price up. Someone may be willing to offer Stafford the payday he covets and the Rams a cache of picks to wrest him away.
Such a move would be seismic, especially as the Rams seek to trade former Super Bowl MVP Cooper Kupp. However, much of the rest of the roster is young and upcoming and, coupled with hefty draft capital, could still theoretically deliver results alongside a cheaper signal-caller or a quarterback with a bit more runway in front of him.
Even though the Rams know they want Stafford to stay, it all appears to be up for consideration.
"There does have to be an element of understanding, well, what does that future look like without this freakin' G who's been our quarterback for the last four years?" McVay said. "And there's no wrong or right way to go about it, but I do think for us to be able to make the most educated decision in terms of the cash budget that we operate on, the draft comp that you would get in return, you just need to be able to have all the parameters to at least explore it. Don't have to do anything in secret, want to make sure that we're all abreast of the situation, even though the first goal in mind is to have you come back here as the quarterback.
"These decisions aren't made in a vacuum and that's kind of the challenging part of it, but love this guy, and he's been incredible for us."
The clock is ticking on whether Stafford continues be incredible for the Rams in 2025 or elsewhere.
