Why the Vikings trading for Matthew Stafford makes very little sense

It shouldn't come as a surprise that there's been speculation about the possibility of Matthew Stafford winding up with the Minnesota Vikings this year. Amid Stafford's suddenly-uncertain future in Los Angeles, his familiarity with Kevin O'Connell and the obvious scheme fit in Minnesota make it an easy idea to point to.

FS1's Chase Daniel, the former journeyman NFL QB, is the latest to suggest the Vikings as a landing spot for Stafford.

"In his entire career, he's never played on an outdoor team," Daniel said. "Lions and Rams, both indoor teams. I think he needs to go to another indoor team. And who is the other indoor team out there? The Minnesota Vikings. KOC was his offensive coordinator during the year that the Rams won the Super Bowl. So I would not put it past Kevin O’Connell and the Vikings."

"Look, Stafford is 37 years old," Daniel continued. "You can get two or three more years out of him if you don't love what J.J. McCarthy is. ... I think it's gonna come down to a two-team race for Stafford. I think it's the Vikings and I think it's the Rams, going back there. If Kevin O’Connell can take Sam Darnold and do what he did, think about what he can do with Matthew Stafford."

It sounds good on paper. And from Stafford's perspective, reuniting with O'Connell while throwing to Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison in an indoor stadium is about as good as it could get from a football standpoint if he leaves LA.

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The issue is that when you dive into it, it just doesn't make any sense for the Vikings. Any team trading for Stafford will have to give up draft capital and likely sign him to a new multi-year deal worth at least $50 million per year. The Vikings have the weakest collection of draft picks in the entire league; if they traded their first-round pick (No. 24 overall), they'd be left with just a third-rounder and two fifths.

More importantly, the same roster-building reasons why they're not expected to offer Sam Darnold $40 million per year apply to the idea of offering Stafford even more than that. The Vikings have numerous other holes to address on their roster, which becomes very hard to do when you use most of your cap space at quarterback. That's a big reason why they drafted J.J. McCarthy tenth overall last year. And even with McCarthy coming off a significant knee injury, there's no reason to believe they're not still confident in his ability to be their franchise QB moving forward.

Put it like this: the Vikings are not one Matthew Stafford away from becoming a real Super Bowl contender. Not at $50 million per year. Not when their offensive and defensive lines need as much work as they do.

It's going to be fascinating to see what ends up happening with Stafford and the Rams. They put a band-aid over his contract situation last offseason, and then came a play or two away from hosting the NFC championship game. His agent has since received permission to talk to other teams to gauge interest and assess his market value. It's unclear if it'll lead to a divorce, but it sounds like a legitimate possibility if another team is willing to part with an early draft pick and pay Stafford more than what the Rams are willing to pay him.

Here's @pschrags emptying his bag on what he's got and where things stand with Matthew Stafford and the Rams 👇 pic.twitter.com/ET4fCII6d2
— Good Morning Football (@gmfb) February 24, 2025

SI's Albert Breer reported that the Giants, Browns, Steelers, Raiders, and others "have shown interest." (Notice a team that isn't named there?) It doesn't sound like there's any bad blood between Stafford and Sean McVay, but there's presumably at least some awkwardness to the whole situation. Could the Rams decide to go with a cheaper and/or younger option at the position? Someone like Aaron Rodgers, Kirk Cousins, or Jimmy Garoppolo could come at a much lower price tag.

As for a younger option, Darnold could theoretically make a lot of sense for the Rams if they trade Stafford, though the timing of that would be interesting. He'd be in a similar scheme, and although he won't be cheap, he's a full decade younger than Stafford. That's at least something to watch as a potential domino if the Rams find themselves looking for a new quarterback — and it's certainly a more realistic possibility than Stafford winding up in Minnesota.

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