What Stafford extension means for both sides
Mike Florio and Michael Holley react to Matthew Stafford's extension with the Los Angeles Rams, explaining why the quarterback's contract with the team has a "one-way" nature.
Video Transcript
All right, let's go.
Let's go.
It's a new beginning.
Four weeks to the day after the Los Angeles Rams used the 13th overall pick in the draft on the eventual replacement for quarterback Matthew Stafford, they've agreed to terms with Matthew Stafford on a one-year extension.
And it went like it usually does.
One of the insiders reports it.
Pulitzer!
Two minutes later, the Rams announce it.
So, the Rams put it out there that it is indeed a one-year contract extension.
Now, the nugget that was reserved only to the usual suspect is it's a one-year deal with a $55 million base and a value of up to 60 million with incentives.
He was under contract, and the way I I disagree with Schefte's math on this.
Oh, no, wait a minute, 105 million is right.
No, no, no, I have 100 million is my math, 'cause he's making 40 this year, so it's 95 plus another 5.
I, I, I reject that.
That, that's all, that's fugazi.
Get that off.
Take that down.
That's fugazi.
Let's never use that graphic again, because it's not accurate.
Those numbers are all over the place.
The bottom line is Matthew Stafford was due to make 40 million this year.
He's gonna get some sort of a raise this year.
My guess is the contract is gonna be structured in a way that allows the Rams to tear it up after this year.
Everything else is fluff.
Everything else is aimed at appearances.
And what the Rams have been able to create with Matthew Stafford, Michael, is a situation where they, they get to decide the relationship year to year.
Stafford does not.
And I don't know whether or not they've used the Jedi mind trick or the powers of Oz to get him to not realize the one-way nature of this relationship, but I'll give you the best example: 2025.
They had some awkwardness back in February.
He wasn't happy with their offer.
They let him go out and shop for a potential trade, talk to the Giants, talk to the Raiders.
Ultimately, took a lot less to stay with the Rams.
The Rams gave him a little bit more.
He wins the MVP, and the way the contract was structured, the Rams got him this year.
He had the leverage last February to say, "Okay, I want this year to be a contract year.
I want to have the ability to become a free agent next year.
If it's gonna be year to year for you, it damn well better be year to year for me."
And they've managed to get him to go along- Yeah with this idea that they have the ability to make the decision every year and he doesn't.
And hey, he's made a lot of money- Look, yeah but how much money would he have made if he w- if Matthew Stafford had waltzed into free agency coming off of the MVP award- Oh, sure how much money could he have made- Oh, forget it in March?
and he knows it, and he knows it.
And you referenced last year when they said, "Hey, okay, you, you want a new contract?
Why don't you go out and, and just, we, we give you permission to talk to other people and see, what's out there."
And he did, and he found out there were great things out there.
So yeah, and he wasn't a free agent.
If he goes to free agency, you know what the numbers are gonna be.
The numbers are gonna be very high.
And I'll say this for the Rams, what a deal.
Okay, great deal.
You got I still think, I don't know how you see your quarterback rankings, I, I see Matthew Stafford as a top five, and I don't just throw that out there.
I actually have four other names plus Matthew Stafford.
So I, I've got Josh Allen, I've got Patrick Mahomes, and I've got healthy versions of Joe Burrow and Lamar Jackson and Matthew Stafford.
There's my top five.
So you got a top five guy who, as you pointed out, is not a free agent, but if he became a free agent, he'd make a ton of money.
Here's what's so fascinating to me, Mike, is that he's got leverage, but they know he doesn't wanna use it.
He wants to be in LA.
you know, yeah, he coulda gotten more money from the Giants, coulda gotten more money from the Raiders.
The problem is he didn't wanna go to New York.
He didn't wanna go to Las Vegas.
He wants to be in LA.
The only way this could be more interesting, if somehow, if Justin Herbert left the Chargers and the Chargers needed a quarterback, then the Rams would have to worry about Matthew Stafford because he could stay in LA and, and get a bunch of money.
So for a guy who has leverage but still wants to be in LA, it's a pretty good contract.
It's not every available dollar, but it's a pretty good contract.
And for the Rams, it's one more year of Matthew Stafford.
I don't think they drafted, Ty Simpson because they're, unhappy with Matthew Stafford or they think that Stafford, is, is d- in decline.
This is more an, of an insurance policy.
It's something that they had to do.
But if you just look at the performance of Matthew Stafford.
Last year he was immense.
Won the MVP.
He should have won the MVP.
I, it looks like when he's, when he's out there, Mike, I think it looks like he's getting better every year.
So it's, it's You're right, it's a one-way, it's a one-way relationship, but not really because Matthew Stafford is in on the thing.
He's kind of allowing the Rams to operate this way because they know how he really feels.
Well, and I also think he doesn't wanna leave.
And-They aren't completely taking advantage of him because of that.
I think a lot of teams out there in all sports, if they believe that the player who is up for a new contract really wants to stay, they'll lowball him, and we've seen that blow up in the faces of some teams in the past.
The biggest example for me is Matt Birk, St. Paul native, had a whole bunch of kids.
Good luck moving all those kids to a new city.
His contract came up 2011, 2012 timeframe, and they lowballed him.
And he got a better offer somewhere else, and they didn't think he would take it, and he said, "I'm taking it" and he won a Super Bowl with the Ravens.
So, that, that, there's always that temptation, and I think that the Rams lowballed Matthew Stafford to the extent that they can, that they play it just right.
And they called his bluff last year.
Yep.
They were having a hard time working out a contract.
That's fair.
Yeah.
"Fine.
Fine.
Fine.
Go ahead.
Go ahead.
Seek a trade."
And the problem is the Giants and the Raiders both thought it was real.
They didn't realize Matthew Stafford was just going out there to get the best possible offer he could so he could take it back to the Rams and get more money out of the Rams.
And that's why we didn't hear any of that talk this year, because no one was gonna fall for that again.
You can only play that one time in your career.
And because it put the Giants and the Raiders in a really tough spot, and look what it did to the Raiders.
Once Stafford didn't go there, they did the whole Geno Smith thing, reuniting him with Pete Carroll.
Now look, I think the biggest problem with the Raiders last year is they let themselves believe that they were a much better team than they were, and I think Geno Smith will be good for the Jets this year, better than he was with the Raiders.
Can't get much worse than he was with the Raiders.
But I don't think it was his fault.
But it really left the Raiders in a pinch.
And oh, by the way, Tommy didn't want Sam Darnold.
How'd that work out for everyone involved?
But there was a period of time where the Raiders thought they had a shot at Stafford.
There was a period of time where the Giants thought they had a s- shot at Stafford.
And this year, that just wasn't even a consideration.
And they got it done before OTAs, 'cause he may not have shown up for OTAs without getting a raise over $40 million.
And see, that's the thing.
He coulda said, "I'll honor my contract- Yeah and I'll play for 40," but 40 is too low for what this guy's accomplished.
Well, they're fortunate.
look, they're getting a lot out of Matthew Stafford, obviously production-wise, and they're fortunate that he is who he is.
Now, I, I don't believe in pocket watching, as some say.
I want everybody, I want every worker to make as much money as possible.
I am pro-worker.
Go ahead.
if you can g- be overpa- get overpaid, I'm all for it.
But I will say that the Rams are fortunate that Matthew Stafford is who he is.
go back to the beginning of his career.
We're talking about somebody who was drafted first overall.
So it was first overall before this, the CBA changed.
In, in, in other words, there was no salary slot for the number one pick.
He can make a lot of money, more than a number one pick can make today.
And so he has been a number He has made number one overall pick money for a long time.
He was in a bad situation, he felt like, in Detroit, and so going to LA was perfect.
He had the money, in Detroit, and then he went to a franchise that he thought was a winning franchise.
He turned out to be right.
They won a Super Bowl, and this is where he wants to be.
He's got in, it, and you hate to think this way, but I know some players do.
In LA, quarterback of the Rams, there are many media opportunities.
There are endorsement opportunities for even more money.
I just think he looks at it and says, "I'm gonna maybe I'm not getting everything I could get on the open market, but for everything that I need," and he took that picture with his family, and we saw the MVP, his fam- his girls went up there with him.
Family's obviously very important to him.
"I'm getting a good franchise.
It's a good spot for my family.
All right.
I can sell it as I got a $15 million raise in the season that I was the MVP of the league.
I stay in LA.
It's a pretty good deal."
It's a good deal for the powers that be in California.
They're gonna take 13.3% of everything that- Ooh he makes- Ooh, that hurts based in, based in Ca- Can you imagine that?
And- I can't.
Well, I can.
That's why I'm, that's why I'm wincing right now.
I can imagine it.
I wouldn't wanna live it, though
