Random Ramsdom: Contradicting quotes about the rumored Stafford offseason discussions?

Thanks for checking out today’s links! I think we got some good ones below! So this is not an article trying to piece together the “he said, he said, he said, no what I meant was” confusion that has been the rumored discussions surrounding what happened between the Los Angeles Rams and Matthew Stafford this offseason. In fact turfshowtimes already has a great article on this subject and I highly suggest you read it here.

We use these articles to compile links so I thought it would be fun to gather a bunch of quotes and articles surrounding this topic and put them all here. Check out the links below and try to make sense of it all! I don’t really think it matters at this point but I am curious what YOU think!

Did the Rams try to renegotiate and or restructure the deal of Matthew Stafford? Is this all a big misunderstanding? Why be so secretive about it?

Is the LA public relations team going to have to sit down with Demoff, McVay, Snead and Stafford to make sure they keep the story consistent?

We have a Stetson Bennett training camp highlight at the bottom too, happy Friday!

QB Matthew Stafford: Trade inquiries are “flattering, I guess,” but he plans to stick with Rams (apnews.com)

“IRVINE, Calif. (AP) — Matthew Stafford apparently had little doubt he would play football this season. He had even less doubt he would play for the Los Angeles Rams.

And when other teams called to inquire about trading for the Super Bowl champion quarterback, Stafford says he made it clear where he preferred to be.

“I see it as flattering, I guess, that other teams would reach out and want me to come play for them,” Stafford said Wednesday. “I just know that I’m really happy where I am, playing for this team, playing for this coach and these fans.”

After an offseason during which he claimed not to know about many of the rumors swirling around him, the 35-year-old Stafford fully participated in the opening practice of training camp with the Rams at UC Irvine on Wednesday to begin his 15th NFL season.

Stafford hasn’t retired, he hasn’t been traded, and he won’t say whether he restructured his contract — or whether he declined to help out the Rams by doing so. As for the unnamed suitors who wondered whether he would be interested in moving again, Stafford claims he was decidedly unenthusiastic about their pursuit.

“I don’t react to it at all, to be honest with you,” Stafford said. “I’m too busy chasing around four kids. But I hear that stuff. I’m in contact with them all the time. I’m not sitting in on all those calls, but I get most of the details.”

Although the Rams are in an elaborate rebuilding process which they’re characterizing as a reload, Stafford has remained fully on board with the process. Just two years after he left the Detroit Lions instead of sticking around through another rebuild, he says he’s fully committed to the Rams’ return to title contention as he begins a four-year contract extension.

Stafford repeatedly said he wanted “to keep the conversations in-house” about the state of his contract. He acknowledged talks about the structure of the deal, but wouldn’t give details on what happened, if anything.

“I don’t know what the technical term of it is, but we had conversations on that kind of stuff, and I’ll leave it at that,” Stafford said.

Every dollar counts this season for the Rams, who cut ties with well over a dozen well-paid veterans in an attempt to clear their books for 2024. The Rams need Stafford’s leadership just about as much as they need his playmaking: Less than 18 months after raising the Lombardi Trophy, Los Angeles’ only three remaining stars are Stafford, Aaron Donald and Super Bowl MVP Cooper Kupp.”

Rams ‘Unanimous’ in Matthew Stafford Trade Decision (si/fannation)

“Per head coach Sean McVay, despite rumors about Stafford’s future with the franchise - and with multiple suitors reaching out in regards to a trade this offseason - the team was unanimous in their decision to keep the 35-year-old.

“There was a consistent and unanimous dialogue and understanding,” McVay said. “When that March deadline came in terms of him being due the bonus that he’s deserved and that he’s earned, we were all in unanimous agreement that we wanted him to be the quarterback.”

Stafford signed a four-year $160 million extension last year, that is set to keep him in Los Angeles through the 2026 season.

And though he is aware of the rumors surrounding a potential move, he is happy with his situation with the Rams, and unphased by the advances of other franchises,

“I see it as flattering, I guess, that other teams would reach out and want me to come play for them,” Stafford said Wednesday. “I just know that I’m really happy where I am, playing for this team, playing for this coach and these fans.”

Stafford of course is coming off of an extremely frustrating season in 2022, in which the Rams finished 5-12, and he played in just nine games due to various injuries, including a spinal contusion.

In those nine outings, Stafford struggled behind a patchwork offensive line as well, completing 68 percent of his passes for 2,087 yards and 10 touchdowns with eight interceptions.

Luckily for the Rams, Stafford is entering training camp feeling as healthy as he has in quite some time.

“I feel a lot better,” Stafford said. “Physically, I feel really healthy compared to where I was at this point last year, so that’s fun for me. I was able to get the work in that I want to get in coming into this. And that makes it a whole lot more fun for me and just excited to be out here.”

And the idea of a healthy Stafford has McVay extremely excited for the team’s chances this fall.

“I know I can certainly speak for all of us and say we’re excited as hell about Matthew Stafford,” McVay said. “It’s been great to see him feeling good, and I’m certainly really glad he’s our quarterback, and that’s where we’re at.”

Matthew Stafford Suggests Rams’ Executive Lied About Contract Negotiations (athlonsports)

““I don’t know what the technical term of it is, but we had conversations on that kind of stuff, and I’ll leave it at that,” he said when directly asked whether the Rams asked him about restructuring.

Demoff last week was blunt in denying that such restructure conversations took place.

“There were no discussions with Matthew about restructuring his contract,” Demoff said on the 11 Personnel podcast.

Stafford and the Rams will kick off their 2023 campaign against the Seahawks on Sept. 10.

Matthew Stafford contradicts Kevin Demoff, says Rams did ask him to restructure his deal (ramswire)

“There were no discussions with Matthew about restructuring his contract,” Demoff said.

Stafford has a different take on the situation, however.

During his first training camp press conference on Wednesday, Stafford said the Rams did approach him about restructuring his contract, which directly contradicts what Demoff claimed less than two weeks ago.

“I’m always in contact with them again on everything in those regards. They did and I’ll keep all that kind of stuff, those kinds of conversations in-house. I’ll just leave it at that,” Stafford said.

He later added: “I don’t know what the technical term of it is, but we had conversations on that kind of stuff, and I’ll leave it at that.”

In this matter of “he said, he said,” it’s hard to take Demoff’s side. From his perspective, he doesn’t want it to seem like the Rams are having buyer’s remorse over the contract they just gave Stafford last offseason. If they were perfectly fine with the structure of his contract, why would they need to ask him to renegotiate it?

Put simply, it would make much more sense for Demoff to lie than it would for Stafford to.

The question now is what the Rams asked Stafford to change about his deal. Did they want him to take a pay cut? Did they want him to forego guaranteed money in future years to make it easier to move on from him? We’ll probably never know the details of those conversations, but it sure wasn’t a basic restructuring that they were considering.

Stafford would have no reason to decline a simple restructure like the Rams did with Joe Noteboom and Brian Allen. All that does is convert a portion of his base salary into a signing bonus, which actually gives the player more money up front and lowers his cap hit in the upcoming season.

Sean McVay was also asked Wednesday whether the Rams approached Stafford about renegotiating his contract, but he didn’t exactly give an answer.

“We always really just keep some of that stuff in-house,” he said. “There’s always constant dialogue between Matthew and myself, and I think he knows how appreciated he is from this organization and that we’re ready to move forward with him leading the way just like he’s done. And I feel really good about that.”

The Rams haven’t denied that they got calls from teams inquiring about a potential trade. Demoff indicated that none of the offers were good enough to even consider, but the team also didn’t immediately shut down those conversations. In other words, they would’ve moved him for the right price.

McVay said the Rams didn’t entertain any of the offers that came in, but there were “certainly some teams that had reached out.”

“No, I think that was addressed earlier. What happened – I wasn’t a part of those specific conversations, but I do know this,” McVay said. “There was a consistent and unanimous dialogue and understanding of when that March deadline came in, in terms of him being due the bonus that he’s deserved and that he’s earned, we were all in unanimous agreement that we wanted him to be the quarterback. There were certainly some teams that had reached out, as Kevin and both Les (Snead) had mentioned, but there was not anything that – I know I can certainly speak for all of us and say we’re excited as hell about Matthew Stafford. It’s been great to see him feeling good and I’m certainly really glad he’s our quarterback and that’s where we’re at.”

Stafford tried not to pay much attention to the trade rumors and other teams’ inquiries, but he was aware of them. And while he wasn’t on the calls directly, he did learn of the details from the Rams.

He takes it as a compliment that other teams would want to trade for him, but added that he’s happy where he’s at with the Rams.

“I don’t react to it at all, to be honest with you. I’m too busy chasing around four kids,” he said. “But, no, I hear that stuff. I have contact with them all the time. I’m not sitting in on all those calls, but I get to know most of the details. I see it as flattering, I guess, that other teams would want to reach out and have me come play for them. I just know that I’m really happy where I am playing for this team, playing for this coach and these fans.”

We won’t go as far as saying there’s trouble in paradise, but the team and the quarterback are clearly not on the same page when it comes to all of this. And if Colin Cowherd’s report was right, as Stafford’s comments suggest, perhaps the Rams really were frustrated by the quarterback declining to redo his contract.

The Rams showed commitment to Stafford by picking up his option bonus this offseason, which guaranteed him $62 million. But the fact that they approached him about renegotiating his contract – and seemingly lied about it – isn’t exactly a great sign.”