LOS ANGELES — Sean McVay was three hours late to his media press conference to open the Rams’ training camp Tuesday, but he had a good excuse.
The Rams and quarterback Matthew Stafford agreed to a reworked contract Tuesday afternoon after huddling together on the Loyola Marymount campus to work out the final details.
“Ultimately it was all geared toward finding a solution that really suits our team but also accommodates some of the things that represent Matthew’s worth for us,” McVay said. “We feel like we were able to do that. That was always the goal in mind.”
McVay said the agreement is not a contract extension, rather a reworking of the final years on Stafford’s deal.
Stafford signed a four-year extension worth $160 million with the Rams following their Super Bowl championship in 2022. But the last two years of the deal contained no guaranteed money. After slogging through an injury-plagued 2022, Stafford bounced back in 2023 to lead the Rams to the playoffs and earn his second career Pro Bowl nod.
McVay said that Stafford approached him near the start of free agency to let him know his representatives would be in contact with the Rams regarding his contract. News of his discontent leaked following the first round of the NFL draft, as it became apparent the Rams would not use high-end draft capitol on an heir apparent.
McVay and general manager Les Snead acknowledged in April they had had discussions with Stafford and his representation regarding his contract, but declined to go into further details.
“We’re definitely jacked to have Matthew as our QB,” Snead said at the time.
Reports at the time linked Stafford’s discontent to the lack of guaranteed money in his contract for 2025 and 2026. While he did elaborate, McVay indicated that this was a simplification of the matter.
“There’s a lot of layers to these things,” McVay said. “I do want to be careful in getting into too many of the particulars. What I am grateful for is we were able to solve whatever that issue was and now here we are and I’m excited to be able to talk about football.”
Stafford reported for OTAs and mini camp, a full participant in the Rams’ offseason program. But he declined to speak with media during the spring, while McVay continued to say he wanted to keep discussions with Stafford “in-house” until a solution was found.
“It meant a lot because I felt like there was a lot of work to be gained,” McVay said Tuesday of Stafford’s participation. “I thought we were able to make a lot of good progress as a team and Matthew was certainly an important part of that.”
Asked Tuesday if there was any looming threat of Stafford holding out during training camp if the sides did not reach an agreement, McVay said, “There was communication that existed and fortunately here’s where we are and it didn’t have to get to that.”
Talks accelerated in the past week before the sides sat down over the course of 12 hours to hammer out the final details, which he declined to share. McVay and VP of football and business administration Tony Pastoors sat down in person with Stafford Tuesday morning, while Snead, team president Kevin Demoff and Stafford’s agent Jimmy Sexton joined virtually to avoid the looming possibility of Stafford holding out during training camp.
“I’m grateful that we were able to get the solution. And I was also grateful for a lot of the dialogue that was able to exist,” McVay said. “Matthew and I have a relationship that I really value where we can have honest feedback and there were some real conversations that existed that I think were really healthy for us to be able to move forward in the right direction and he was great, his group was great and that was the goal. I am relieved that it got done and I think the manner in which it occurred was also healthy for everybody involved and ultimately I’m excited for this team.”
Briefly
Tight end Tyler Higbee (knee) will start training camp on the Players Unable to Perform list. The veteran had offseason surgery to repair a torn ACL suffered in the Rams’ playoff loss to the Lions. Higbee is the only Ram anticipated to start camp with an injury designation, McVay said.
