Los Angeles Rams general manager Les Snead has done an incredible job extending his team’s competitive window well past his Super Bowl championship. He was aggressive when necessary, perhaps to a degree no other executive would follow, but has hit on late picks with enough regularity to restock the shelves of the roster without premium draft capital.
Quarterback Matthew Stafford came back healthy after a tumultuous season that ended in one of the worst Super Bowl hangovers of all time and looked the part of a passer that can sling it for a few more years.
As long as he’s playing the way he did in 2023 – complete with nearly 4,000 yards, 24 touchdowns, and 11 interceptions – the Rams’ core is talented enough to compete.
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However, Stafford will be entering his age-36 season, has missed 10 games since that Super Bowl run, and looked beaten up during Los Angeles’ playoff loss to the Detroit Lions. Few would blame him for hanging the cleats up early. It should be noted that at this moment he intends to return.
“My plan is to be back,” Stafford said after the loss. “You’re going to have to deal with me for another year. So have with that.”
The Athletic recently ran a discussion piece that – among a litany of topics – asked if Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa would be a fit for the Rams in the event Stafford retired or, for some reason, Los Angeles pulled the plug on its passer.
“Could the Rams be interested if Matthew Stafford retired?” Mike Sando wrote. “Trading Tagovailoa for Stafford would be even better if the right set of circumstances made it feasible.”
With respect to Sando and Tagovailoa – both plenty good at their jobs – trading for the Dolphins quarterback would be the quickest way to send Rams head coach Sean McVay to retirement.
Tagovailoa just completed the best season of his career. He stayed healthy, and in head coach Mike McDaniel’s offense, he went bombs away to receivers Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle. The former fifth-overall pick led the league in passing (4,624 yards) while throwing for 29 touchdowns and 14 interceptions.
Even so, a clear ceiling exists for Miami. The Dolphins were completely outmatched in a sub-freezing Wild Card game, losing 26-7 to the Kansas City Chiefs without any real threat of a passing attack. Tagaovailoa threw for 199 yards on 39 attempts, his lone touchdown underthrown and aided by Hill coming back to the ball.
His physical limitations and inability to do much of anything out of structure means that, while productive, his performance is woefully fragile. McVay already had a point-and-shoot adventure game. He traded it and two first-round picks for Stafford.
McVay’s offense is at its best when it remains smooth in structure and lethal outside of it. Stafford’s arm talent and ability to throw under duress have allowed him to earn the trust of McVay. He’ll let it rip when need be and take the challenge virtually any window. Tagovailoa, at his quarterbacking core, is diametrically opposed.
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The Rams have no incentive to downgrade at the quarterback position, especially with their first-round pick drought coming to a close and Snead’s propensity for finding value late in the draft.
When the time comes, and Stafford no longer spins passes at SoFi, they’ll face the challenge of keeping the Super Bowl window open. If McVay has shown the football world anything, it's that he’ll be chasing another Stafford, not the quarterback he moved mountains to replace.