Star quarterback Matthew Stafford is again within the fold. Star receiver Cooper Kupp stays a possible commerce asset.
With one week earlier than the beginning of NFL free company, Rams coach Sean McVay is resting, if not resting straightforward, figuring out Stafford will likely be main his group for a fifth season.
“I’ve been sleeping better these last couple days,” McVay stated Monday throughout a videoconference with reporters.
Stafford and the Rams agreed to a contract adjustment on Friday, ending a number of weeks of hypothesis in regards to the 16-year veteran’s future. The Rams gave Stafford’s agent permission to talk with different groups in regards to the parameters of a contract if Stafford was traded, however Stafford in the end selected to stay with McVay and the Rams.
“You want to make sure there’s good vibes going into it,” McVay stated, “and we were able to check all of those boxes.”
It was the second yr in a row that the Rams agreed to regulate the four-year extension that Stafford signed in 2022 after main the Rams to a Tremendous Bowl title. In 2024, the Rams moved ahead $5 million that Stafford was as a consequence of earn this season.
So there was “always an understanding,” McVay stated, that there can be one other adjustment this yr, when Stafford was as a consequence of earn a below-market wage of $23 million.
Shedding Stafford was “never something I thought would occur,” McVay stated, later including that the situation was “never something that felt like ever got close, and it was never something that I allowed my mind to go to.”
And there was a constructive, McVay stated, noting that final yr it took about seven months to resolve the scenario, this yr about three weeks.
“So maybe it will be about two or three days next year if we have to do this,” he quipped.
McVay stated his “hope and expectation” was that back-up Jimmy Garoppolo would return as properly, however he acknowledged that the pending free agent would produce other choices.
The Rams’ determination to half methods with Kupp got here to gentle on Feb. 3, when the 2021 NFL offensive participant of the yr posted to social media that the group knowledgeable him he can be traded.
“There hasn’t been a more challenging decision since I’ve been here,” McVay stated, including, “It’s about the big picture.”
The final two seasons, Puka Nacua displaced Kupp because the No. 1 receiver. Kupp is scheduled to earn about $20 million in wage and bonuses, in accordance with Overthecap.com.
“You’re ultimately trying to put the puzzle together and with a lot of thought and consideration, we just felt like that was the best direction for our football team,” McVay stated. “It doesn’t take away the love and respect and gratitude that you have for what he’s done. But it just came down to what we think is best in terms of putting together the whole puzzle.”
McVay stated the Rams and Kupp’s brokers haven’t mentioned a contract restructure.
Requested if the door was utterly closed on Kupp returning if no commerce accomplice was discovered, McVay stated, “I would never speak in absolutes.”
The Rams, nevertheless, will proceed to look to exchange Kupp by way of trades, free company and the draft.
Final week, the Rams re-signed left sort out Alaric Jackson. When requested about pending free brokers akin to defensive lineman Bobby Brown III and out of doors linebacker Michael Hoecht, McVay indicated that basic supervisor Les Snead was working to resolve conditions earlier than the NFL’s free-agent negotiating interval begins Monday.
Veteran tight finish Tyler Higbee and veteran proper sort out Rob Havenstein additionally will return, McVay stated.
Higbee sat out the primary 14 video games final season whereas recovering from knee surgical procedure and shoulder surgical procedures. Havenstein was sidelined six video games due to accidents.
“Those guys are instrumental to our success,” McVay stated, including, “When those guys were on the football field for us, we were a different offense. And you could tangibly feel the difference.”
