Turf Show Times
What does Malik Nabers have to do with the Giants potentially trading for Matthew Stafford?
Matthew Stafford is a major topic of conversation three cities right now: Los Angeles, New York, and Las Vegas. Realistically, these are the three teams, that being the Rams, Giants, and Raiders, that have the highest odds of employing Stafford for the 2025 season.
But to theorize which team is most likely to satisfy Stafford’s desire to go from $400 million career earnings to $500 million career earnings, you can’t ask the most obvious questions like, “Which teams needs Stafford more to win the Super Bowl?”
No, that’s too innocent of a view on why NFL teams pay $50 million per year for a quarterback to play a sport for their franchise.
The better question to ask would be:
We live in a selfish world, where there is no such thing as a selfless act, so that’s the question that will answer where Stafford plays football in 2025. Who stands the most to gain PERSONALLY by coming to an agreement to pay and start Stafford next season?
Winning a Super Bowl with Stafford would only be a secondary concern for most people who run football teams. Because every GM and head coach would rather have a job in 2026, than win a Super Bowl in 2025.
Yes, winning a Super Bowl would guarantee a job. For a year. For two years. Maybe for five years*. But Stafford has to help that person have a job for years to come, whether the team wins a Super Bowl or not.
Especially since only one team can win the next Super Bowl, so the odds are stacked against Matthew Stafford — no matter where he plays football — of winning his second championship next February.
The team that acquires Stafford, or the Rams if they keep him, need to know that the decision is better for the security of their jobs. And nowhere is that question more prescient than with the New York Giants.
Schoen is the general manager and Daboll is the head coach of the Giants, and both know how lucky they are to still have those jobs after going 3-14 last season.
Hired in 2022 to repair a team that went 4-13 under Joe Judge and Dave Gettleman the year before, Daboll helped New York rebound to 9-7-1 and a wild card win over the Vikings in 2022 prior to then losing 38-7 to the rival Eagles.
Schoen then made a monumental mistake, or was ordered by owner John Mara, by choosing to extend quarterback Daniel Jones while only giving running back Saquon Barkley the franchise tag.
Jones, who averaged less than one touchdown pass per game in his “successful” first season with Daboll, **has since...
