INDIANAPOLIS — Like they do every offseason, a small team of Los Angeles Rams executives will meet the agents of their players under contract this week during the NFL Scouting Combine.
The stakes are much larger than usual, though, in light of an ongoing contract dispute between quarterback Matthew Stafford and the team. Stafford’s agent, Jimmy Sexton, is among those the team expects to meet with, league sources said, as the NFL ecosystem descends upon Indianapolis’ hotel lobbies and convention center ballrooms. The Rams can get little else done in free agency until the ongoing matter with their quarterback is resolved, so they should have more clarity after this week.
Sexton and the Rams have agreed that the veteran agent can talk with other teams about Stafford’s contract terms, a league source said. That strategy makes sense for both sides because it serves as a fact-check: Do other teams think Stafford’s market value is closer to his number or the Rams’ number? If another team moved to bring Stafford in via trade, could they or would they be able to hit his number or one similarly agreeable to him?
As The Athletic previously reported, the two sides initially met before the Super Bowl and talks did not progress at that time. However, the expectation was to pick things back up in the days leading up to the NFL combine.
Both the Rams and Stafford have remained open to working out a deal, team and league sources have said throughout the process. The Rams, though, have been wary about making a significant financial or time commitment to a 37-year-old quarterback whose long-term future or durability they can’t be certain about — even though Stafford’s level of play inarguably gives them their best chance to win now and Stafford has only missed one game to injury between 2023-24. Their young roster, built through two successful drafts, is their core identity with several of those players eligible for early contract extensions in the next two seasons.
Stafford would not feasibly play on his existing contract as it is currently structured, which was understood by both sides after his dispute with the Rams last spring over the remaining money on the four-year extension he signed in 2022. He and the Rams restructured it to effectively make it a one-year deal despite its outlined years running through 2026. Guaranteed money was front-loaded into 2024 (he had $23 million in guarantees this season on a $46.1 million cap number, per Over the Cap), and only $4 million is guaranteed next season with none in 2026. Adjusting the deal that way paved the way for this year’s negotiation.
Coach Sean McVay and general manager Les Snead’s lack of verbal commitment to Stafford in their year-end news conferences opened the door to a possible trade.
The situation has to be resolved relatively soon. Trades can become legal on March 12 at 4 p.m. ET (and the legal tampering window opens at noon ET on March 10). Stafford has a $4 million roster bonus due on March 19.
McVay and Snead are not in Indianapolis this week (the team stopped attending the combine in full after 2020 but continued sending select executives). They are still expected to address reporters virtually at a day and time not yet specified by the Rams.
Required reading
(Photo: Norm Hall / Getty Images)
