Rams COO Kevin Demoff isn’t exactly denying that his team considered moving on from quarterback Matthew Stafford this offseason, but he is downplaying talk that the Rams wanted to get rid of the quarterback who won a Super Bowl for them just 17 months ago.
Demoff said on the 11 Personnel podcast that teams reached out for “casual conversations” about acquiring Stafford.
“Those conversations frustrated me because I think it’s trying to inject narratives that aren’t there,” Demoff said, via USA Today. “I know there are reports that we tried to trade Matthew. We were not actively trying to trade Matthew. I know Les has rebuffed that before. It’s just not the case. I think if you wanted to be in the reality of the NFL, there are 10 teams this year, at least, that are going to have different quarterbacks. We were obviously aggressive in remaking our roster in March. It would be naive to think that people didn’t inquire about what was going to happen with the player who the year before won the Super Bowl. It’s different than whether people inquire, whether there are casual conversations.”
Demoff said the Rams still view Stafford as their franchise quarterback, but also didn’t rule out the possibility of a trade.
“He is a pillar, we value him highly,” Demoff said of Stafford. “Now, again, if someone did come in offering a ridiculous trade package, I think you owe it to your organization to listen the same way you would anyone. I think Les said people called about nine players during the offseason. That’s grown probably since that time.”
Demoff denied that the Rams discussed restructuring Stafford’s contract and said the team is fully prepared to keep him on the books on a deal that has an affordable cap hit of $20 million this year but cap hits of about $50 million a year for the next three years..
“The part that frustrated me was this notion that we were trying to get away from the $59 million and that was the only way to do it through trade,” Demoff said. “That tells you that you didn’t have an understanding of the situation. Matthew’s dollars after 2022 were unguaranteed. We could’ve walked away this year, free and clear, for $0. No future money owed. So there was no need to restructure. If we wanted out of Matthew’s deal, we could’ve walked away. We didn’t have to trade him to relieve the $58.5 million. We could’ve just walked away. To me, that’s where there’s a fundamental understanding of what his deal was that drives the narrative, ‘Oh, we were desperately trying to get rid of that.’”
For now, the Rams say they’re not trying to get rid of Stafford. Next year, that certainly could change.