Ram Digest

What’s Stafford’s Big Night Means for the Rams

The Los Angeles Rams can breathe easy knowing the MVP will be back on their team next season. What does Matthew Stafford winning his first MVP award mean for them?
Fernando Alfaro-Donis|
Feb 5, 2026; San Francisco, CA, USA; Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford posts with the NFL Honors most valuable player trophy at Palace of Fine Arts. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
Feb 5, 2026; San Francisco, CA, USA; Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford posts with the NFL Honors most valuable player trophy at Palace of Fine Arts. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

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Los Angeles Rams

It's finally official. The reality that the Los Angeles Rams have known since the end of the regular season has come to fruition, and they can now say without a shadow of a doubt that they had the MVP of the league on their team.

Matthew Stafford's 2025 season gets the recognition it deserves and will forever be cemented in history. He's won his first MVP award in year 17, which goes to show his resilience and competitive mentality that he's showcased his entire career. What does this award mean for his career moving forward, and also retrospectively on his time in the NFL as a whole?

Down to the Wire

This was the closest MVP race in the past 23 years, which shows how down to the wire it got between Stafford and Drake Maye. There were points this season where I thought Maye pulled ahead. Ultimately, Stafford deserved it over the young quarterback because he played better against harder competition.

Even though Maye is in the Super Bowl and Stafford isn't, postseason success shouldn't factor into the voting process. If Stafford were to have won the Super Bowl and MVP all in one season, I don't think there's a doubt that he would've been a first ballot Hall of Famer. I think he's guaranteed to make the Hall of Fame, but if he wants that first ballot notation, the Rams have to win a Super Bowl next season, and he has to win Super Bowl MVP.

In his award acceptance speech, he ended it by confirming he'll be back next season as the quarterback for the Rams, which plastered the biggest smile on Sean McVay's face. Yet another example of Stafford's year coming down to the wire, he waited until he won the award to announce this. This puts to rest the looming anxiety over the organization about whether he was going to return or not.

Now that that's settled, the Rams can fully focus on next season and getting back to the NFC Championship Game. The Seattle Seahawks are favored to win the Super Bowl, which would only complicate things more for the Rams as they'd have to deal with the reigning Super Bowl champions in their own division. It would also make it consecutive seasons that the NFC has won the big game, which would prove that the Rams are in a harder conference than the teams in the AFC.

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Fernando Alfaro-Donis
FERNANDO ALFARO-DONIS

Fernando Alfaro-Donis found his passion for sports playing high school football, which led him to pursue journalism as an English major at UCLA. He also covers the UCLA Bruins and the Los Angeles Rams as an On SI team reporter.