Matthew Stafford, the reigning MVP of the NFL, has signed a huge new $55 million extension to keep him with the LA Rams until the end of the 2027 season.
Stafford had one year left on his contract but has now tagged on a further one-year extension, which will ensure he keeps playing until his 40th birthday if the Rams make it to Super Bowl LXII.
The deal, first revealed by NFL insider Adam Schefter, is potentially worth $60m with incentives, and takes the total remaining on his contract with the Rams to $105m.
Shortly after the contract news was broken on X, the Rams confirmed it with a post of their own.
Stafford is currently 38, and is due to turn 39 on February 7, one week before the Super Bowl in Los Angeles.
He is coming off the back of yet another remarkable season in which he won the MVP award, and took the Rams to the NFC Championship game.
Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford has signed a huge new $55 million extension
Stafford was crowned MVP in February after an impressive season. He is pictured right with his wife Kelly and their four daughters at the NFL Honors ceremony
They ultimately lost to the Super Bowl champion Seahawks, but Stafford will now stick around for two more seasons in a bid to go one step further themselves.
Stafford does already have one Super Bowl title under his belt, having won a ring with the Rams back in February 2022 – in a win over the Cincinnati Bengals.
He was crowned MVP – for the first time in his 17-season career – after registering a league-leading 4,707 passing yards and 46 passing touchdowns against just eight interceptions last season.
He also moved to sixth all-time in career-passing yards (64,516) and career completions (5,562), seventh all-time in career passing touchdowns (423) and set the single season-franchise record for passing touchdowns.
Stafford and the Rams are scheduled to begin their OTA workouts next week.
Stafford’s new deal comes a month after the Rams used their 13th overall pick in this year’s draft to select quarterback Ty Simpson – despite the Alabama product being widely expected to be a Day 2 selection.
The move had appeared to signal that the franchise was preparing for Stafford’s departure. Yet, following Thursday evening’s news, it now appears that the Rams will keep Simpson waiting in the wings until whenever Stafford does eventually hang up his cleats.
Simpson raised eyebrows last month when he was asked if he had chance to speak to Stafford following the draft.
Stafford, pictured with wife Kelly, is due to turn 39 on February 7, a week before the Super Bowl
The Rams used their 13th overall pick on quarterback Ty Simpson in the 2026 draft last month
‘I have not,’ Simpson told reporters one day after the first round. ‘Kelly (Stafford) has actually texted me on Instagram and welcomed me and told [me] to hit her up if we need anything but I can’t wait to talk to Matthew. I’m super ecstatic because I just want to pick his brain about everything.’
However, head coach Sean McVay was quick to insist that Stafford welcomed the Rams’ decision to use their first-round pick on his heir apparent.
‘He couldn’t be more of a stud,’ McVay said of Stafford. ‘When you’re an elite competitor the way he is, he responded exactly the way I would want to. He’s going to put his arm around this guy.
‘He’s like, “I understand it.” He’s earned the right to be year to year, and if he tells me he wants to play three more years, no one would be more excited about that than me.’
At the time, McVay made it clear that Stafford would remain the team’s starting quarterback – something which has been reinforced by the signal caller’s contract extension.
However, the coach did admit that having Simpson on the roster would ease the workload on the veteran in practice. ‘Going into Year 18, you manage his workload,’ McVay said.