Turf Show Times
It’s time for Rams to trade Matthew Stafford and bring in Aaron Rodgers
Two big pieces of news broke on Sunday surrounding this offseason’s game of QB musical chairs: The New York Jets are done with Aaron Rodgers and the Los Angeles Rams must either trade or pony up more money for Matthew Stafford.
On the surface you might think these reports have little to do with one another; however, Rodgers would be the perfect bridge quarterback for Sean McVay and the Rams should LA elect to trade away Stafford. Hell, it might even be a short-term upgrade for Los Angeles.
Early in the 2021 offseason, there were reports that the Rams called the Green Bay Packers and inquired about the availability of Rodgers. The answer at the time from Green Bay was “no”, but the following offseason he was sent to the Jets and the reigns were handed over to Jordan Love.
We know there was interest there from the Rams’ side. You could even go as far as saying the team settled for Stafford because he was truly the only veteran quarterback available that offseason. Ultimately the Rams sent Jared Goff to the Detroit Lions and created a partnership with Stafford.
The Jet were an absolute mess this season. They were poorly coached and lacked discipline. While Rodgers had a relatively down year, he was operating in an offense with a high degree of difficulty. He still showed flashes of MVP-level play but there were no easy buttons in New York’s offense.
Rodgers and Stafford threw the same number of big-time throws at 26 (4.2%) but the key difference is that Rodgers took much better care of the ball—this has been a trademark of his hall of fame career. Stafford put the ball in harm’s way 25 times this past season (3.7% of dropbacks). Meanwhile Rodgers halved that number at 12 turnover-worthy plays (1.8%).
I see the upside of Rodgers in the Rams offense, especially considering that his baseline would improve over Stafford and the added element of Sean McVay’s schemed throws would be the icing on the cake. LA has some serious questions at the receiver position, but trading Stafford would give them more ammunition to add in the draft or trade picks for available veterans. Maybe DeVante Adams would even be an option while LA develops a younger group of pass catchers behind the scenes.
Rodgers could be a real MVP candidate in Los Angeles.
Moving off of Stafford and bringing in Rodgers can’t be the only change the Rams make at quarterback this offseason. Rodgers might just be a solution for 2025. LA would also need to think long-term to either bring in a reclamation project with long-term starting upside or find a developmental player in the draft.
While Rodgers was reportedly not thrilled with mentoring Jordan Love in Green Bay,...
