Four Teams Have 'Shown Interest' in Matthew Stafford Amidst Rams Trade Rumors

The star quarterback's trade market looks to be substantial if the Rams decide to move him.

Stafford could be on the move this offseason / Joseph Rondone/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The situation between Matthew Stafford and the Los Angeles Rams could come to define the 2025 NFL offseason. There have been rumblings that Stafford and the franchise would need to work out a new contract for next year ever since the Rams' season ended at the hands of the Philadelphia Eagles in the divisional round. Then this past weekend brought news that Los Angeles had granted Stafford's agent permission to speak to other teams to "gain an understanding of his value" outside the organization.

There's been no official trade request and the Rams don't seem eager to ship off their Super Bowl-winning quarterback. But clearly there's a possibility Stafford ends up on the open market. And there would surely be plenty of interested parties who'd love to employ the 37-year-old next season.

On Monday, Sports Illustrated's Albert Breer shed some light on who those teams could be.

"The teams you’d suspect would have their hat in the ring have, indeed, thrown their hats in the ring," Breer reported. "The New York Giants, Cleveland Browns, Pittsburgh Steelers, Las Vegas Raiders and others have shown interest."

As expected, the teams most in need of stable quarterback play were named.

The Giants moved on from Daniel Jones in the middle of the 2024 season and don't have a clear path forward at the position, but pick third in this year's NFL draft. The Browns would be hard-pressed to pull off any quarterback trade financially given Deshaun Watson's massive contract but they do need a signal-caller given Watson tore his Achilles in October and ruptured it again a few months later, which could wipe him out for 2025. The Steelers have shuffled through five starting QBs in the last three years; the two from last season, Russell Wilson and Justin Fields, are both free agents. The Raiders have been hunting for a quarterback since trading away Derek Carr in 2023 and are very focused on finding one this offseason.

All have solid reasoning to go after Stafford. Finding a starting-caliber quarterback is difficult and on his good days Stafford is far above that line. How much longer the two-time Pro Bowler plans to stick around in the NFL is certainly a factor worth considering but his skillset for 2025 is coveted.

Should the Rams decide to shop their quarterback, it seems they won't be lacking for trade partners.

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