Matthew Stafford, the Rams’ 35-year-old quarterback, is having a hard time connecting with his teammates.
That’s the word from his wife, Kelly Stafford, who said on her podcast that as Matthew Stafford heads into his 15th NFL season, he’s finding that the way teammates get to know each other has changed.
“It’s kind of crazy. So, Matthew’s been in the league a long time. He’s like, ‘The difference in the locker room has changed so significantly.’ They have a lot of rookies on their team, they’re very young. But he’s like, ‘I feel like I can’t connect,’” Kelly Stafford said, via ESPN. “In the old days you’d come out of practice, you’d shower, and people would be playing cards, interacting. Who knows what they’re doing, but they’re doing something together. Playing pingpong, they have a tournament going on. They’d at least be talking. But now they get out of practice, and meetings during training camp, and they go straight to their phones. No one looks up from their phones. Matthew’s like, ‘I don’t know . . . am I the dad? Do I take their phones? What do I do here?’ He’s like, ‘I want them to see me not as a coach.’”
Kelly Stafford says young players on the Rams see Matthew Stafford more as an authority figure than someone to socialize with.
“They say ‘sir’ to him and shit,” she said. “He’s like, ‘No, we’re on the same level here, we’re both playing in the league. Let me get to know you.’ He said it’s so different and so hard to get to know these guys. He had a book printed out. He had the equipment guy get a book printed of all their faces, and all their names, ‘cause he’s like, ‘I need to know their names.’ We need to talk, so I’m gonna find their names and I’m gonna say, ‘Hey so-and-so, how was your weekend?’ So, they know I know them and maybe we should get to know each other so there’s chemistry on the field.’ But I think nowadays, it’s really hard to develop that because all these young kids, they don’t care. Or it’s not that they don’t care, but they’re so used to going straight to their phones instead of having some fun with some guys in the locker room. It’s different. It’s kind of sad.”
After the Rams went all-in with Stafford and an experienced roster two years ago and won the Super Bowl, they crashed and burned last year, and now they’re hoping to rebuild with a younger roster. It’s going to be a challenge for Stafford to make things work with that younger roster, and not just on the field.