Matthew Stafford and the Los Angeles Rams have already climbed the mountain once together. They won a Super Bowl in Stafford’s first season with the team, and that memory still hangs over everything this franchise is doing now. But the Rams are not acting like a team satisfied with one ring.
They’re pushing hard for another title this season, and the moves they’ve made show it. The message is simple: go for it now, because the window may not stay open much longer.
That’s the backdrop for Aaron Schatz’s ESPN feature on Sunday, which looked at a group of NFL teams with a real chance to win a Super Bowl this year, then a tougher road to get there in 2027. The Rams were an easy inclusion.
Stafford’s future is part of the reason. Schatz pointed to the possibility that Stafford could retire after this season. The bigger picture matters too: Los Angeles has spent aggressively and dealt away top picks to chase immediate help, which makes any long-term reset harder to pull off.
“The Rams are the most obvious all-in team in the NFL this season after their blockbuster offseason moves, like trading for Myles Garrett and pulling Aaron Donald out of retirement,” he says in the piece.
That’s the clearest read on where this team stands. The Rams have Stafford, Garrett and Donald.
They’ve shipped out valuable draft capital to load up for a run right now. With an aging roster and several young stars nearing new contracts, Los Angeles is built to chase a championship in the present, not to worry about what comes next.
In Other News...
Rams Secondary Overhaul Suddenly Looks Bigger Than Fans Realized
The Rams spent the offseason reshaping the back end of their defense, and the cornerback additions are the kind of moves that can change how a secondary looks from the first snap of the season onward. Around the league, a handful of notable defensive backs changed teams, but Los Angeles stands out because it brought in both Jaylen Watson and Trent McDuffie, two names that immediately change the conversation about depth, matchups and week-to-week stability.
Watson and McDuffie arrive with different resumes, but the common thread is that each gives the Rams a real chance to raise the floor of a unit that needed fresh answers. The broader league context matters here too, with Chris Johnson landing in Miami, Benjamin St-Juste going to Green Bay and Jamel Dean heading to Pittsburgh, but Los Angeles may have made the most intriguing bet on upside. How quickly that overhaul clicks will go a long way toward showing whether the Rams just added bodies or truly changed the shape of their secondary. [Read more 🡒]
Rams Are Testing A Risky Australia Plan Before NFL History
The Rams have already started treating Melbourne like a dry run, sending employees to Australia to work through the logistics of what would be the NFLs first regular-season game there. The goal is less about sightseeing than survival: charting the travel, the flight experience, sleep, fatigue and recovery so the team can understand what it might feel like to arrive halfway around the world and still be ready to play soon after.
It is a more aggressive approach than the one other teams, such as the 49ers, are expected to take, with San Francisco planning to get to Melbourne a week early. For the Rams, the question is whether the league can turn a historic event into a workable football week without giving away too much on the front end, and the answer may shape how future international games are handled. [Read more 🡒]
Matthew Stafford Just Became A Bigger Threat For The Rams
Matthew Staffords postseason story has changed dramatically since he arrived in Los Angeles. After going 0-3 in the playoffs with Detroit, he has since built a 7-3 playoff record with the Rams, and that shift has helped redefine what this franchise can expect when the calendar turns. With the roster around him continuing to evolve, theres a growing sense that Stafford is no longer just the quarterback trying to survive January. He is part of a team that has learned how to lean into those moments.
The Rams have also put work into the rest of the operation, especially the rushing game and the defense, with offseason additions like Myles Garrett and Aaron Donald adding to the sense that the support system around Stafford could get even stronger. Looking ahead to 2026, the expectation is not simply that Stafford will be asked to carry the offense, but that he may have more help than ever if the group comes together the way the Rams envision. The upside is obvious, even if the full picture still has to play out. [Read more 🡒]