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When the Los Angeles Rams signed Jimmy Garoppolo to a new contract during the offseason, it turned more than a few heads.
At least at the time, the Rams were still being linked to Aaron Rodgers as a free agent and were widely expected to trade away Matthew Stafford if the two sides couldn’t agree to a deal. Would the Rams have really rolled with the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback as their guy if Stafford left and Rodgers didn’t work out? Well, according to Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated, the answer is yes, as even if Jimmy G was the team’s Plan C, they still considered him a true starting-caliber quarterback.
“The Rams have pretty high hopes for the team, and rightfully so—they came closest of anyone to beating the Eagles in the playoffs, and did it with a very young team. Now, Matthew Stafford’s a huge key to that, and he’s missed all of camp to this point with back soreness. My understanding is that the Rams aren’t going to push him out there until he’s truly all the way back physically, and I didn’t sense a ton of concern that there’s any long-ranging issue here.
“And, yes, the team does really like backup Jimmy Garoppolo, who turned down more money to return to the Rams as a backup, and who was a very real Plan C, if the Rams had traded Stafford in the offseason and failed to land Aaron Rodgers. In fact, they view him as a starting-caliber player. But based on where Los Angeles’s goal lies in 2025, having Stafford out there for the full season is important. So, positioning him to get to the finish as healthy as possible is the priority, taking precedence over camp reps. We’ll see how the 37-year-old, who’s continued to play phenomenally but has gotten pretty beat up over the years, holds up.”
Despite coming so close to the promised land last January, with Matthew Stafford and company finding themselves a drive away from beating the Philadelphia Eagles and being in the driver’s seat to the Super Bowl, the Rams were one of the biggest question marks in the NFL heading into the offseason. While they largely just kicked the can down the road instead of making a radical change, opting against even drafting another quarterback with their six picks, in the end, the Rams identified a player they liked and signed him, regardless of how everything else would shake out.
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