Matthew Stafford added another line to his résumé on Sunday night, even if the Los Angeles Rams came away with a loss to the Denver Broncos.
The veteran quarterback became the first player in NFL history to reach 20,000 passing yards with two different franchises, according to ESPN Insights. It’s a rare milestone, and one that puts a new stamp on a career that already has Stafford stacking up Hall of Fame credentials.
“Matthew Stafford is the first player in NFL history with 20,000 Pass yds with multiple teams (45,109 with Lions, 20,000 and counting with Rams),” ESPN Insights shared.
Stafford reached the mark with a 390-yard performance against Denver, finishing 30-of-55 with two touchdowns and two interceptions in the defeat.
His earlier numbers with Detroit were massive: 45,109 passing yards on 6,224 attempts from 2009 to 2020. Since arriving with the Rams in 2021, he has added 20,279 yards on 2,650 attempts through 2026.
He’s not going to come close to matching what he did with the Lions in Los Angeles, but that’s not the point here. The point is that no quarterback had ever piled up 20,000 passing yards for two separate teams until Stafford did it.
For a player already viewed as one of the defining quarterbacks in both Lions and Rams history, this is the kind of achievement that only strengthens his Hall of Fame case. It also gives him another marker in the conversation with other recent elite quarterbacks trying to make that same leap, including Philip Rivers and Eli Manning.
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