With training camp underway, Matthew Stafford cares about one thing and one thing only: helping the Rams win football games. After an offseason of contract negotiations, Stafford is happy to be back on the field with his teammates as they prepare for the 2024 season.
On Tuesday, the day players reported to camp, Stafford and the Rams finally came to an agreement on an adjusted contract that will give the quarterback more guaranteed money beyond this year – which was ultimately his goal. But now that the deal is done, he has no interest in talking about his new contract and is focused solely on playing football.
When asked if he’s relieved to have his contract situation resolved, he had this to say.
“Yeah, I don’t know if that’s the right word,” he said. “I’m just happy to be where I am. I’m happy to be out here playing football. Love doing it. Love doing it with this group and just excited about the year to come, to be honest with you. That’s all that matters to me.”
Spoken like a true veteran. Even if Stafford won’t say it, he’s probably glad to have the situation solved before things really ramp up in training camp and with the regular season approaching.
Sean McVay wouldn’t say whether Stafford planned to hold out if a deal hadn’t gotten done, and the quarterback didn’t disclose anything on that subject either
“I don’t even think about that kind of stuff, to be honest with you,” he said of the possibility that he could’ve skipped practices. “In this business, I’m play-to-play, day-to-day and I’m moment-to-moment so I’m happy to be doing this. Today was a great start for our team, which was really fun to be out there with these guys. We have some guys back that haven’t been out on the field for a while so it’s great to see those guys come out and practice. Shoot, we haven’t done this in a while so it’s nice to be out here and throw it around to let these guys do their thing.”
The details of his adjusted contract have yet to be revealed, but his goal was to get some assurances beyond the 2024 season – at least, that’s what was reported. McVay said it’s something that worked out for both parties, which Stafford echoed.
“Yeah, it was a good agreement,” he answered. “Listen, I’m happy to be where I am, you know what I mean? I’m happy to be here. I’m happy to be playing. I’m excited about playing football this year and that’s what matters to me the most, to be honest with you.”
Very little about the actual contract negotiations were made public by the Rams. McVay made sure to keep everything “in-house,” as he said several times throughout the offseason, and Stafford never spoke to reporters about it.
And there’s no indication talks ever got contentious. It seemed to be a smooth negotiation process, even if it did take months to find a resolution.
“Yeah, I do a pretty stressful thing for a living so I’m kind of used to those kinds of things,” Stafford said. “To be honest with you, I’m happy to be where I am. I know that sounds – over and over again you’re going hear it, but that’s just the truth of it. I’m not interested in kind of reliving my moment-by-moment feelings here or there, but I am just interested in pushing this team and getting to play with these guys for another season.”
It’s Year 16 for Stafford and business as usual for the veteran quarterback. The contract is out of the way and his sole focus is on winning games now.