Getty Image / Jayne Kamin-Oncea
Heading into this year’s NFL offseason, the Los Angeles Rams had a whole lot to figure out.
They were just a year removed from winning a Super Bowl, but were coming off of a brutal 2022 season.
With a roster built on veteran talent and minimal draft capital to start rebuilding, the Rams needed to figure exactly what they were going to be going forward.
They could continue to make short-term moves at the expense of their future in an effort to get a second ring out of their current core or they could reverse course and give themselves some hope for the future.
They decided to start looking to the future, trading Jalen Ramsey and Allen Robinson and letting go of Bobby Wagner and Leonard FLoyd.
However, it seems they also wanted to make a change with one of their aging stars.
There have been reports that the Rams were looking to trade Matthew Stafford this offseason.
It turns out that wasn’t the only move they were interested in making with Stafford that didn’t pan out.
According to Fox Sports’ Colin Cowherd, the Rams tried to redo Stafford’s contract, but he turned them down.
“I was told by a source I trust that they wanted to redo his contract. He wasn’t interested. It limits what they can do and they were frustrated with him,” Cowherd said. “And I could also see them next year taking a quarterback because the way to catch up in this league with personnel is rookie quarterback, go buy four good players.”
While the Rams should have no regrets about anything they did to get their ring even if it will lead to a painful rebuild, they probably have some regrets about what they did after winning the Super Bowl.
Matthew Stafford had a rough year last year and his contract will be absolutely brutal if he doesn’t return to the form we saw in 2021.
Stafford’s contract will pay him an average of $40 million per year and isn’t really cuttable until after the 2025 season.
If Stafford struggles again in 2023, the Los Angeles Rams could have some tough years ahead of them.