Matthew Stafford’s dead cap hits in 2023 and 2024 make him unmovable

Matthew Stafford has enormous dead cap charges in 2023 and 2024, meaning the Rams can’t cut him even if they want to

Former NFL GM Michael Lombardi floated a rumor earlier this offseason suggesting the Los Angeles Rams were open to trading Matthew Stafford. Lombardi called Stafford “fully available” and said that the Rams “would love to trade him” but they can’t because of his contract.

We can’t know whether Lombardi is right about the Rams’ interest in trading Stafford, but he’s on the money about the quarterback’s contract being a blockade to any deal. That’s especially true now that his 2024 base salary of $31 million became fully guaranteed and his option bonus of $26 million was exercised two weeks ago.

That’s a total of $57 million fully guaranteed for Stafford, which makes him an impossible player for the Rams to move. Seriously, they would be crazy to even consider trading or cutting him in the next two years.

Let’s start with his dead cap charge in 2023. If the Rams were to cut him right now, he’d count $111.5 million against the salary cap. That’s $91.5 million more than his cost to be on the team. If the Rams were to find a team interested in trading for Stafford, his dead cap charge would be $74 million. Again, not doable.

The Rams can’t cut him next offseason, either. Doing so would incur a dead cap hit of $91.5 million, $42 million more than his $49.5 million cap number. A trade would result in a dead cap hit of $55.5 million, a loss of $6 million in cap space compared to his cost to be on the team.

It’s not until 2025 that the Rams can even begin to think about moving on from Stafford. Even still, cutting him would result in a dead cap hit of $42 million, saving the Rams $8.5 million. Trading him would come with a $37 million dead cap charge, a savings of $13.5 million.

None of this is to say the Rams want to move on from Stafford. They’ve said and done nothing to suggest that’s the case. However, in the event that they somehow land a top-five pick in the 2024 draft and want to take a quarterback like Caleb Williams or Drake Maye, they’ll need to realize Stafford will most likely be on the team, too – barring a potential retirement announcement.

Stafford is a pillar of the Rams’ rebuild. He’s the most likely player to stick around for at least two more seasons, along with Cooper Kupp. The Rams are in good hands with him under center and should continue to build around him because as he showed in 2021, he can be one of the better quarterbacks in football when healthy.

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