Matthew Stafford is playing the best football of his career when most players have already hung up the cleats – and it appears he might not have any designs on stepping away from the spotlight soon.
Stafford and the Los Angeles Rams agreed to a one-year, $55 million extension on Thursday, with the deal potentially rising to $60 million with incentives. The veteran quarterback is coming off his 17th season, during which he won NFL MVP honors for the first time in his career after throwing for 4,707 passing yards and a career-best 46 passing touchdowns while adding only eight interceptions. With the move, Stafford now has two years and up to $105 million remaining on his contract.
Will Matthew Stafford be in the NFL through the 2027 season?
Further details of the extension were not disclosed, so we don’t know exactly what provisions are in place if he wants to retire next year. Stafford himself has not publicly committed to playing beyond the 2026 season, but hasn’t shut the door on such an idea either. So we don’t yet know whether we’ll see Stafford on the gridiron for two more seasons, despite the extension being signed. When accepting the MVP award earlier this year, he made clear he’d at least be back in 2026.
“I’ll see you guys next year,” he said then. “Hopefully, I’m not at this event and we’re getting ready for another game at SoFi.”
What we do know is that when Stafford finally decides to call it a career, the Rams will have their future franchise quarterback in place with Ty Simpson, whom the franchise took with a first-round pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, stunning many across the league. Stafford and Simpson connected for the first time recently in the weeks following the Rams’ selection of the promising rookie.
“It was funny because, of course, he was like, ‘Welcome, man. I’m super pumped,” Simpson said. “He was like, ‘Loved watching you play, but you played for the wrong jersey,’ because he’s pumping up Georgia.”
“So when I see him on Monday, I’m going to give him heck about that. But it’s cool. I’m super excited, especially having him and [quarterback] Stetson [Bennett] in there, Georgia guys, and me, an Alabama guy, so I’ve got to stand up for myself,” Simpson added.
This article originally appeared on Touchdown Wire: Matthew Stafford signs extension: Will he play in 2027?
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