Matthew Stafford is one of the top players in the NFL and is paid like one too! The star Los Angeles Rams QB was already paid well, but after their victory in Super Bowl LVI, Stafford signed a mega contract extension that made him the highest-paid QB in the league at that moment.
Matthew Stafford Contract
In 2022, Stafford penned an extension with the Rams that would keep him in LA until 2026. The four-year extension is worth $160 million, with $130 million guaranteed. Stafford also received a $63 million bonus upon signing the deal.
Per Over The Cap, the contract bags Stafford an average of $40 million per year, with the first two years of the contract fully guaranteed.
Stafford was offered and accepted the extension in the wake of the Rams suffering from a difficult cap situation. By extending the deal, the Rams were able to pay Stafford a yearly salary of $1.5 million in 2022 and 2023, which allowed them to get under the cap. In 2023, Stafford cost $20 million against the cap.
That of course, puts money into later years, with Stafford’s salary increasing in 2024. In fact, so much salary was put into the last three years of the extension that if the Rams moved on from Stafford in 2023, they would have taken a dead cap hit of a staggering $106.5 million.
In 2024, Stafford’s base salary increases to $31 million, carrying a cap hit of $49.5 million. He is paid a bonus of $12 million for each year of his contract.
Stafford’s contract in 2024 has become contentious. In March 2023, another $57 million of the contract became guaranteed, which includes an option bonus and guarantees Stafford’s 2024 salary.
The costly deal caused Los Angeles to attempt to restructure the deal to become more team-friendly before the 2023 season. However, Stafford was unwilling to negotiate.
Speaking to the LA Times in July 2023, Stafford was asked whether the Rams attempted to restructure his contract. “They did, and I’ll keep all that kind of stuff and those conversations in-house,” he said.
It led to speculation across the NFL about Stafford’s availability of being traded, with Colin Cowherd saying, “I was told by a source I trust that they wanted to re-do his contract, he wasn’t interested, it limits what they can do, and they were frustrated with him.”
Michael Lombardi also shared on the Pat McAfee Show that “Before his option bonus was kicking in, the Rams attempted with a lot of effort to move Matthew Stafford. Any team could’ve had him, but you had to absorb the $59 million.”
The 2025 season is also costly for the Rams, with Stafford paid a salary of $27 million with $10 million guaranteed.
That guarantee happens if Stafford is still on LA’s roster on Day 3 of the 2024 league year. In 2025, he will cost the Rams $50.5 million against the cap, and it would cost the team $37 million in dead money to move him.
The only way out of Stafford’s contract is potentially in 2026 when the dead cap hit reduces to $18.5 million. If he’s on the roster, Stafford will take home a salary of $26 million and will cost $49.5 million against the cap.
In 2025 and 2026, Stafford will also receive roster bonuses of $5 million if he’s on the roster on the third league day of the new year.
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