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Is Matthew Stafford’s successor more important than Rams competing this season?
The Los Angeles Rams have entered the 2025 season in a bit of a weird spot with one foot in two different timelines. That’s not necessarily a bad thing as the Rams are set up to compete now, but have pieces in place to sustain success through the next era. At the same time, it can make things confusing as far as committing to one particular timeline.
This is a young roster with two of its most important pillars moving forward under the age of 24. Those pillars are wide receiver Puka Nacua and edge rusher Jared Verse. By trading back in the 2025 NFL Draft with the Atlanta Falcons, the Rams were able to pick up an extra 2026 first round pick in what is supposed to be a much better quarterback class.
Still, this is a roster set up to compete. The Rams were 14 yards away from hosting the NFC Championship game against the Washington Commanders. They were the team that got the closest to knocking off the eventual Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles. During the offseason, the Rams committed to Matthew Stafford by re-doing his contract and giving him more guaranteed money. With that move, it seemed clear that the Rams wanted to squeeze everything left out of Stafford and try to push for one more Super Bowl title with the star quarterback.
Operating in two different timelines is easier said than done and at some point the Rams may need to commit to and prioritize one of them. Is this a team that’s looking ahead to 2026 and this season is more of a bridge year than some want it to be? Conversely, is this a team that truly sees itself as a contender?
Both of those aren’t necessarily mutually exclusive, but holding on to both also sacrifices each timeline’s potential. The Rams may have already sacrificed the potential of one in favor of the other and may be on the verge of doing the same to the timeline that they presumably committed to originally.
Heading into the 2023 season, general manager Les Snead consistently brought up the idea of building around three pillars on the roster. Those three pillars were Matthew Stafford, Cooper Kupp, and Aaron Donald. Said Snead entering 2023,
“When you have someone like Matthew Stafford, players like Cooper Kupp, Aaron Donald, there’s some weight-bearing walls there that we still have, and we’re going to rely on those — don’t want to put pressure on them — and then at some point remodel around them with maybe different teammates, different partners.”
We are now two years removed from that quote and Donald retired after 2023 while Kupp was cut this past offseason. Kupp has been replaced with a younger version in Nacua and Donald replaced by Verse. The only original wall still standing is Stafford.
It would make sense if the Rams wanted to commit to that younger timeline, but...
