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After making the eyebrow-raising decision to sign Jimmy Garoppolo in free agency last offseason, the Los Angeles Rams decided to double down on the decision and re-sign him to a new contract back in March, committing $3 million to the veteran passer.
Why, some wondered, did the Rams go all-in on Jimmy G again when they have one of the oldest starting quarterbacks in the NFL in Matthew Stafford? Well, in an appearance on Up & Adams, McVay laid it out clearly: Garoppolo is a starting-caliber quarterback and the best backup in the NFL.
“Yeah, I do. I look at Jimmy; he’s a starting quarterback,” McVay declared. “And so what’s cool about that, though, is the respect and reverence he has for Matthew and the way that Matthew leads that room, but Jimmy has played at a really high level, and he’s going into year 12. He’s got so many things to bring to the table, and we were really fortunate that he chose to come back here because he had a lot of other opportunities.”
Pretty high praise, right? Well McVay wasn’t done there, as he had plenty more to say about his appreciation for Garoppolo as a passer.
“There’s no doubt in my mind he is a starting quarterback in this league, and I think he’ll get a chance to be able to do that again and show, you know, Week 18 last year, right? Yeah, I mean, but you look at what he did in that game, right? Seattle’s an upper-echelon defense, and he did a heck of a job of giving us a chance to almost pull that thing off, and that’s who he is, and he’s done a great job,” McVay declared.
“He did a great job yesterday to start handling the walkthrough really well, and so I feel really fortunate that we can make a decision where let’s be smart with Matthew because you have such a capable player in Jimmy that is going to allow us to continuously push the team in the direction. We want, even though we know there’s nothing like Matthew, having Jimmy has been a real blessing.”
With Stafford only getting older, and fans openly wondering how many more seasons the 37-year-old has left in the tank, the Rams will eventually have to select a new starting quarterback to lead them into the future. Could that be Garoppolo, who turns 34 in November? Long-term, no, but in the interim, that feels like a very real possibility.
The Rams have the best backup QB in the NFL. @UpAndAdamsShow @RamsNFL pic.twitter.com/1HuvxNYRBT
— Kay Adams (@heykayadams) July 25, 2025
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