Rams coach Sean McVay has never hidden the fact that he thinks the risks of injuries to key players outweigh the potential rewards of preseason games. And so it’s unsurprising that McVay says quarterback Matthew Stafford won’t play in the preseason. Ever.
McVay told Doug Gottlieb that he has already decided that Stafford won’t play this preseason, next preseason or any preseason.
“There is zero chance you’ll ever see Matthew Stafford take a snap in the preseason for the Rams as long as I’m the coach. That will never happen,” McVay said. “So he is not going to play. That’s why it’s important for us to try to get competitive opportunities against some of these other teams in practice settings. Practicing against the Cowboys this Saturday. We’ll get the Raiders twice. So we’re always looking for those things. But until you tell me that if a guy gets hurt in the preseason that we’ll get those games back or they’ll add them on the schedule afterwards as, ‘Oh, yeah, you get two games because you lost those guys in the preseason,’ it’s hard for me to make sense of it.”
McVay kept virtually every key player off the field throughout the last two preseasons as well, so his stance on protecting Stafford is no surprise. And it won’t be surprising if more and more coaches start to follow McVay’s lead and keep everyone important on the bench, making preseason games more and more boring for the fans.