Inside the Article:
According to a report from Colin Cowherd, he was told by a source that Matthew Stafford declined the Los Angeles Rams request to restructure his contract.
“I was told by a source I trust that they wanted to re-do his contract,” Cowherd said, via Pro Football Talk. “He wasn’t interested. It limits what they can do and they were frustrated with him.”
Kevin Demoff denies that Matthew Stafford declined Rams request
Cowherd's source told him that Stafford declined the Rams request to restructure his contract, but according to Rams COO Kevin Demoff, that never happened. Here is what Demoff had to say about the report while he was on The Athletic's '11-Personnel' podcast.
“Those conversations frustrated me because I think it's trying to inject narratives that aren't there,” Demoff said. “I know there are reports that we tried to trade Matthew. We were not actively trying to trade Matthew. I know (Rams GM) Les (Snead) 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.”
The Rams Could Have Just Walked Away
As noted by Demoff, if the Rams really wanted to move on from Stafford, they could have just walked away, as his contract has no guaranteed money past 2022.
“… 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.”
Bottom Line: Matthew Stafford Will be the Rams QB in 2023
Regardless of what has been reported, the bottom line is that Stafford will be the Rams starting quarterback to begin the 2023 season, and as long as he remains healthy, he will remain the starting QB. When healthy, Stafford is more than capable of leading a team. The question is, does he have enough talent around him to get to the playoffs?
