Rams Fans United - Los Angeles Rams Fan Discussion Forum

Per Proootball Talk:

Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford just turned 33 in February, but his new team thinks he can be effective for plenty of years to come.

That’s at least what General Manager Les Snead said during an appearance on the 11 Personnel podcast this week.

“I don’t think we [made the trade] thinking two years,” Snead said, via Jourdan Rodrigue of TheAthletic.com. “Based on his age, you can legitimately think five to seven, eight years if you look at what Drew [Brees] has done. … With quarterbacks of his pedigree, a lot of these guys have played into their late 30s, for sure. So that was definitely the vision with [Stafford].”

Stafford started all 16 games for the Lions in 2020, completing 64.2 percent of his passes for 4,084 yards with 26 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. Time will tell if he’ll be able to elevate Los Angeles’ offense to heights it didn’t reach with Jared Goff behind center.

I feel like Stafford is in good enough shape to give us 4 or 5 good years. It'll definitely be worth it if we see a championship with him.

Haven't listened yet but here it is:

I call bullshit. Stafford has had a lot of injuries over the last few years. He does not have that much left before he breaks down IMO, maybe a few more. Very few make it past 35.

Haden wrote:I call bullshit. Stafford has had a lot of injuries over the last few years. He does not have that much left before he breaks down IMO, maybe a few more. Very few make it past 35.

He has been injured a number of times over his career. In his first 2 years he missed 19 games. The other seasons (the last 10) he's played 16 except for missing 8 games in 2019. But I worry how long he can go, despite playing through injuries. Realistically 36 brings us through 2024. I can live with that and would be extremely pleased with more.

Just get us through AD and Ramsey's prime years. 2024 seems about right. Give us 4 solid seasons where the QB position is locked in and we aren't debating about what direction we need to go. Lets focus on getting the OL talent in there to take advantage of all of our skilled players.

HopHead Ram wrote:Just get us through AD and Ramsey's prime years. 2024 seems about right. Give us 4 solid seasons where the QB position is locked in and we aren't debating about what direction we need to go. Lets focus on getting the OL talent in there to take advantage of all of our skilled players.

Thar sounds like a reasoned sensible target to me. Top to bottom.

A big part of Stafford's potential health moving forward is that he won't be subjected to the horrible protection provided by the Lions. He was regularly sacked in the 40 range each year at around 6-7%. Even as problematic as the Rams OL has supposedly been the last couple of years, if they provided the same protection moving forward, Stafford would be taking 40% less sacks.

Plus, Stafford is going to be going from a relative sitting duck, defenses knowing he is back there having to pass, to a much heavier play action offense where he won't be an easy target. The sacks and the hits should be far less with the Rams than with the Lions.

Of course, I'm not too keen about planning for 5 years of Stafford leading the Rams before he's even taken a snap. I hope he lasts but you don't get healthier with age(and miles).

The way Snead talked about Blythe was more reason to think we didn't really want him back, IMO. Snead said he could see how Blythe might be offended (not quite his words) by our offer and want to get a fresh start elsewhere where he might be able to do a better job maximizing his value and getting a good contract in 2022.

He also said that there was going to be some changes in offensive terminology so this was actually not a bad time to make a change at center and that the Rams had thought through what they would do without him ahead of time.

Jourdan and Rich seemed a little shocked by Blythe's departure but Snead didn't seem surprised or concerned. Jourdan said Blythe was plan A for the Rams but didn't get that vibe from Snead...