It’s no secret the New York Giants are desperate to find a quarterback. They literally don’t have one — there are no quarterbacks currently under contract.
General manager Joe Schoen announced after the Giants completed a 3-14 season that the team will “look at any avenue we can to upgrade the position.”
“We’ll look at free agency. We can also look throughout the draft, potential trade opportunities,” Schoen said.
The inclusion of “trade opportunities” was notable, especially with the expectation at the time that the Giants, who have the No. 3 pick, would most likely target a quarterback in the draft. As time has passed, there has been surprising buzz about a potential trade target: Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford.
There’s enough smoke around the Stafford-to-New York rumors that a deeper dive into the situation is warranted. So I enlisted colleague Jourdan Rodrigue, the most plugged-in Rams reporter there is, to find out if a Stafford trade is realistic.
Since any actual trade discussions will be initiated by the Giants, let me open our discussion with a simple question: Why on earth would the Rams be open to trading Stafford?
Jourdan Rodrigue: In a sane and logical world, they wouldn’t be! But as we know, sometimes football gets weird …
Stafford had a dispute with his existing contract extension (signed in 2022, after he helped the Rams win the Super Bowl at SoFi Stadium in L.A.) as early as last spring, and his camp let that be known during the first round of that year’s draft. This dragged out all spring and summer and even into the first day of training camp, during which coach Sean McVay pushed back his opening news conference by three hours while working out the eventual adjustment with Stafford that morning. The adjustment effectively front-loaded most of Stafford’s remaining guarantees into 2024 and kept the door open to revisit the rest of the existing contract this spring.
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Now we’re here: There’s no chance Stafford will play on just $4 million in guarantees in 2025, so the contract must be adjusted again. The Rams, on the other hand, didn’t commit publicly to the QB in their season-ending news conferences last month and will be hesitant to shell out a huge sum or a lengthy deal with Stafford turning 37 earlier this month. That’s why all of this is up in the air — and curious teams are undoubtedly sniffing around.
Know of any?
Dan Duggan: Funny you should ask! I can think of a certain team desperate for a quarterback with a GM and coach on the hot seat. The Giants’ rumored interest in Stafford makes perfect sense for this regime, especially if it’s not all-in on drafting a quarterback with the No. 3 pick (or earlier).
After suffering through two seasons of heinous quarterback play, it’s easy to see why the Giants would be interested in adding a proven winner who was tied for fifth in Mike Sando’s annual QB tiers ranking last summer. Schoen and coach Brian Daboll are under pressure from ownership to win or else in their fourth season. No (potentially) available quarterback offers a better path to winning than Stafford.
The question is the cost to acquire Stafford. Even if the Giants are convinced they’re a quarterback away from contending, there are still obvious holes in a roster that won three games last season. So they need to guard against mortgaging the future in a trade for a 37-year-old. So, the first part of the compensation equation: What do you think Stafford will be looking for in a new contract to facilitate a trade?
Rodrigue: Stafford would make most quarterback-needy teams much more competitive, which is why I genuinely believe the ready-to-win Rams would like to get something done if they can. But what would he accept? Back off, aggregators, because the following is my opinion: I think Stafford believes he has plenty more football left after two relatively stable seasons; I think he knows he’ll be a hotly-debated future Hall of Fame candidate (I believe he merits induction); and I think he got a taste of winning postseason football games too late in his career and wants more. When I watch him play when he’s feeling his best, there’s no question he’s got juice left.
There is a level of financial respectability owed to a quarterback of his stature. The fact that he wasn’t happy with last year’s number before the adjustment, especially the guarantees, is telling of where his floor is now.
However, I don’t believe the Rams want to make a long-term, high-cost investment in any quarterback they don’t know for sure is part of their future because they now feature a young roster with multiple high-dollar contract extensions soon due. They could be looking at shorter-term or flexible terms without shelling out top money.
While one side of that scale might be doable for another team, if it’s between the Rams and Stafford, then both sides will have to meet closer to the middle for this to get worked out. That means the Rams might have to pay more or pad guarantees or even increase the years, OR Stafford would have to accept less. Or both! The Rams are also likely asking themselves whether it’s worth facing this question all over again the next couple of offseasons, or would it be easier to cut ties now and pursue a bridge player en route to finding their long-term future at the position?
Duggan: OK, so whatever the number is, I think we can end the fantasy of Stafford coming to the Giants on his eminently affordable existing contract. The other major question from the Giants’ perspective is, what do you think the Rams would be looking for in return if they do decide to deal Stafford?
Rodrigue: Funny thing about the Rams, they sometimes will ask for the moon — why not? — while ultimately expecting to land somewhere else in the atmosphere. They don’t have a second-round pick in 2025 because they used it to trade up last year for Braden Fiske. They also don’t like where they’re sitting in the first round (No. 26); GM Les Snead refers to picking in the 20s as “purgatory.”
In a deal for Stafford, acquiring a pick high enough to package and move up for a top receiver or offensive lineman, or acquiring enough picks to package together to go after a few need positions would probably be worth listening to. In this case, I look less at that tasty No. 3 overall pick and more at No. 34 (and then some) … though you’ve got to at least ask, right?!
Duggan: The Rams definitely need to ask about No. 3, and the Giants definitely need to hang up the phone. No. 34 is where the conversation gets interesting. I don’t know how the Rams make the trade if they can’t get that second-round pick (plus more). Pick No. 34 would be a steep price to pay, but I don’t think a Giants offer will be taken seriously without their second-rounder. How much more they have to give up will depend on a combination of their level of desperation and the competition for Stafford.
Your point about Stafford clearly still having juice when he’s feeling his best raised my antenna to some nagging questions about a 37-year-old who has battled injuries. Have there been signs of decline? Strictly looking at the box score stats, there’s been a dip since that magical 2021 Super Bowl season. But what have you seen watching him every week?
And on a related note, how much of a concern is durability? He has only missed one start due to injury in the past two seasons, but he missed eight games in 2022 and, from afar, seems to be banged up often.
Rodrigue: Stafford wasn’t on the injury report all season, and you’re correct to note he has only missed one game due to injury over the last two. However, we annually seem to find out how much he was playing through either via allusions to this by McVay or, in the case of this year’s ribs injury, via his wife Kelly Stafford’s podcast. There’s no question he can still play. The arm talent is still so clear; he can make any throw you’d want and some you didn’t think were possible. He’s willing to move more in recent seasons to pick up easy yards when available, but he’s far from a mobile quarterback.
I’d add that through the back third or so of the 2024 season, he played poorer football than I have seen from him in his time in L.A.. He managed more games than he directly won during that span. He also admitted he didn’t play well. However, in the playoffs, he turned back into an absolute killer. Can you tell I am not quite done watching him here in L.A., yet?
Duggan: I get it … which is why it’s so hard for me to fathom the Rams trading him! The last time we saw him, he was driving with a chance to beat the Super Bowl champion Eagles in the divisional round. Anyway, the Giants would be dreaming about being in that position if they make the trade. But it would need to happen fast, especially with the retirement talk that has swirled around Stafford in recent years. I know he said in an interview last summer that he hoped to play three or four more years. So, we’re down to two or three more years based on that timeline.
I don’t know if he’s said anything more about his future, or if you have a better sense for how much longer he’ll play. All I know is the Giants just traded a third-round pick for Darren Waller, and he retired a year later. They can’t afford that type of debacle with Stafford.
Rodrigue: Some of the retirement talk definitely seemed to help move the needle on previous contracts, I’ll just say that. And my personal opinion? That dude will throw the ball around until the wheels fall off, so long as he’s being paid a respectable sum to do it, he feels healthy and his team has a plan to win. Any team Stafford plays for will have to walk the line between top-level play, his march toward 40 and the risks that come with. If the Rams don’t want to pay top money in the context of that risk (and I don’t believe they do, even though I do believe they want Stafford to be their QB), and another team is OK with all of it, that team should make the call.
Duggan: The whole “plan to win” thing seems like it could be a sticking point with the Giants. Stafford doesn’t have a no-trade clause, but he can effectively quash a deal if he says he doesn’t want to play for a suitor. So, here’s the (multi) million-dollar question from the Giants’ perspective: Do you think Stafford would be interested in coming to New York?
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Rodrigue: That’s a big, big question. I can’t speak for him, of course, but I do think he absolutely thrives in the spotlight, so the market and the back pages aren’t a deterrent. The Giants also have a top receiver and an offensive-minded head coach, plus a defense that can hold its own especially if given half a chance by its offense. If they pay Stafford, that’s another factor in their favor. I don’t think it’s an accident (or subtle) that ESPN’s Adam Schefter recently noted Chad Hall, Stafford’s brother-in-law, now coaches in New York. You tell me, Dan, having watched every snap — is their offensive line respectable enough for a quarterback who isn’t exactly mobile?
Duggan: The O-line progressed to functional when stud left tackle Andrew Thomas was in the lineup last season. And if the Giants are going to make the plunge for Stafford, I expect they’ll be equally aggressive to upgrade the protection in front of their investment.
Schefter adding that link between Hall and Stafford while breaking the hiring of the Giants’ assistant QB coach — surely a huge scoop in his world — was just another log on the fire of this smoldering rumor. Things will start to get real — or not — soon. So let’s finish up this speculation by setting the table for what’s to come.
Rams brass made it clear after the season that it wants a quicker resolution with Stafford than last year. You reported this week that the sides have had some initial conversations and plan to continue those in the near future. League-wide business will pick up at the NFL Scouting Combine next week. So, when do you expect we’ll find out if Stafford will be back in LA or on his way out?
Rodrigue: If I’m McVay, I want this resolved before the mandatory NFL combine interviews with the media take place (McVay and Snead won’t be in Indianapolis, per usual, but will speak virtually). I know the Rams will not let this situation drag out through the spring, as it did last year. I don’t believe this is contentious at all, and based on their initial conversation, everybody knows where everybody is at. However, if the Rams want to keep any leverage against a full payout, they’ll need to have a clear understanding of what their trade options (and their bridge QB options) are, and Stafford’s agent Jimmy Sexton will want a full picture of what he could stand to make elsewhere. That’s a long way of saying this could be figured out before next week, or it could take until after the combine. It’s fluid, for sure, and I’ve learned by now that you never can rest too easily at any time in the football calendar when the Rams are working on something.
Duggan: Well, that five-week offseason was fun! It’s back to work, with Stafford’s fate looming as one of the biggest dominos in the league. We’ll have you covered from coast-to-coast on how this situation unfolds.
(Photo: Mike Lawrence / Getty Images)
