It’s now obvious that the Rams have twisted themselves into an ever-changing Eldredge knot over the messaging associated with the stunning decision to use the 13th overall pick in the draft on quarterback Ty Simpson. And the overriding purpose of the fast-moving shell game has been the ongoing management of the relationship with the NFL’s reigning MVP — quarterback Matthew Stafford.
Now that the truth (we think) has come out, it’s fair to wonder how Stafford will react.
Yes, McVay has praised Stafford’s private response publicly. But what else would McVay say? Everything about this has been not about the truth but about selling a version of it that advances and protects the Rams’ interests.
And that’s OK. In football, teams mislead all the time. There are strategic reasons for doing so, because the truth can compromise the overriding strategies.
As to Stafford, there’s a to-date unknown truth regarding his true thoughts as to the decision to use the 13th overall pick in the draft (the same selection the Rams used in 2014 to select Aaron Donald) on someone who won’t do anything to help close the wafer-thin gap with the Seahawks for NFC West, NFC, and NFL supremacy. For the first time since 1967 (when the Packers used a first-round pick on quarterback Don Horn after Bart Starr was named league MVP), the current MVP has seen his potential replacement arrive with the first round of the next draft.
Stafford has said he’ll play this year. A contract has not yet been finalized. The terms (most importantly, the structure) will be key. Stafford, who’s on a year-to-year arrangement with the Rams, may want a true one-year deal, possibly with a no-tag clause for 2027.
Or maybe he’ll ask to be traded, now. (There aren’t many obvious destinations, but someone would surely scrap their current depth chart for him.) Or maybe he’ll decide, like Donald did two years ago, that Stafford has had enough.
He’s made $400 million. He doesn’t need to keep playing.
The Rams were close enough to another Super Bowl win to taste it. They used their bonus pick from the Falcons not on a game-ready player who will get the Rams over the top but on a guy who ideally won’t play in 2026, except in garbage time of blowout wins.
Here’s the point for now. The ever-moving goalposts suggest anxiety from the organization about Stafford’s potential reaction to banking that bonus pick. And now that Simpson has given up the ghost as to the extent to which McVay was involved in scouting him, it’s time to get some popcorn and wait for Stafford’s next move.
Whatever it will be.
Read the full article here
