Sports
Matthew Stafford isn't going anywhere: QB agrees to restructured Rams contract
Matthew Stafford is a master at leading comebacks.
And after much offseason uncertainty, the Rams’ star quarterback is staying with the team he led to a Super Bowl title and three playoff appearances in four years.
On Friday, the Rams announced that Stafford agreed to a restructured contract after nearly two months of speculation about whether they would trade him. Terms were not disclosed.
Stafford, 37, had two seasons left on the extension he signed in 2022 after leading the Rams to victory in Super Bowl LVI at SoFi Stadium. This season he was due to earn a below-market $23 million in salary — with $4 million guaranteed — on a salary-cap number of $49.7 million.
This is the second year in a row that the Rams agreed to adjust Stafford’s contract. But this offseason featured a little more drama.
A few weeks ago they gave Stafford’s agent, Jimmy Sexton, permission to explore contract terms with other teams if the 16-year veteran was traded. The permission was granted to gauge Stafford’s value on the open market and did not rule out a return to the Rams, who advanced to the NFC divisional round before losing to the eventual Super Bowl-champion Philadelphia Eagles.
The New York Giants and Las Vegas Raiders reportedly were among the teams interested in a trade for Stafford, who last season passed for 20 touchdowns with eight interceptions. The Giants have the third pick in the draft, the Raiders the sixth, though it is doubtful that either team would have included those picks as part of a deal.
Those conversations, however, gave Stafford and the Rams fodder for continuing their negotiations and reaching agreement, avoiding a repeat of last year’s impasse that lasted until the first day of training camp and did not end until the Rams agreed to push forward $5 million from 2025.
Earlier in the week, coach Sean McVay said there was “no doubt in my mind who I want to be our quarterback.”
“Now, how we get to that, because these decisions aren’t made in a vacuum, that’s the challenging thing,” McVay said on the Fitz & Whit podcast.
Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford spends time with his daughters before facing the Minnesota Vikings in the playoffs at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Ariz., in January.
(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
As Stafford’s situation played out, the Rams considered other scenarios.
Veteran Jimmy Garoppolo, 33, was the backup last season, and Aaron Rodgers, 41, a Super Bowl champion and four-time NFL most valuable player, also was regarded as a short-term solution.
But for now, the Rams can put off finding a successor for Stafford, who ranks in the top 10 in career passing yardage, completions and touchdown passes.
The top pick in the 2009 draft by the Detroit Lions, Stafford has passed for 59,809 yards and 377 touchdowns with 188 interceptions. He amassed 14,700 yards and 95 touchdowns with 44 interceptions during his first four seasons with the Rams.
Stafford came to Los Angeles after 12 seasons in Detroit, where he established himself as one of the NFL’s elite — and toughest — passers. But the Lions made the playoffs only three times and never won a postseason game. After the 2020 season, Stafford asked them to trade him.
McVay, fresh off a disappointing NFC divisional-round defeat by the Green Bay Packers, jumped at the opportunity to replace Jared Goff. The Rams sent the young quarterback, two-first-round draft picks and a third-round pick to the Lions for Stafford.
The deal paid immediate dividends for the Rams. Stafford passed for 41 touchdowns and led the Rams to a 12-5 record. He engineered playoff victories over the Arizona Cardinals, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and San Francisco 49ers before capping the season by passing for three touchdowns in a Super Bowl LVI victory over the Cincinnati Bengals at SoFi Stadium.
In 2022, Stafford suffered a concussion and then a spinal bruise that forced him to miss the final seven games of what proved to be the worst Super Bowl hangover in history.
In 2023, Stafford bounced back and passed for 24 touchdowns as the Rams rebounded from a 3-6 start to make the playoffs. Last season they rebounded from a 1-4 start to make another playoff run.
After the loss to the Eagles, Stafford said he was “playing some pretty good ball” and that it “sure feels like” he had good football left in him. For how many more years remains to be seen.
But the Rams plan to capitalize on Stafford’s talent and experience for at least one more season.
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The PGA Tour has announced that it will not be hosting an event in Hawaii during the 2027 season, ending a 56-year run of holding a tournament in The Aloha State. The change comes as the Tour and CEO Brian Rolapp have consistently teased a revamped schedule beginning next year.
The Tour was forced to cancel The Sentry at the start of the 2026 campaign due to the dying grass on the Plantation Course at Kapalua amid a local dispute with the company responsible for delivering water to the area.
An aerial view of the golf course from over the ocean prior to The Sentry at The Plantation Course at Kapalua on December 31, 2023 in Kapalua, Maui, Hawaii. (Photo by Ben Jared/PGA TOUR) (Ben Jared/PGA TOUR)
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With The Sentry being canceled, the Sony Open at Waialae Country on Oahu served as the Tour’s season opener in ‘26, which was won by Chris Gotterup. The event was in the final year of its sponsorship, although the Tour has shared that it is working toward making the event the opening event on the PGA Tour Champions circuit.
Chris Gotterup of the United States celebrates with the trophy on the 18th green after his winning round of the Sony Open in Hawaii 2026 at Waialae Country Club on January 18, 2026 in Honolulu, Hawaii. (Photo by Cliff Hawkins/Getty Images) (Cliff Hawkins/Getty Images)
The Tour’s removal of The Sentry and the Sony Open wipes out what has now turned into a traditional two-week stretch on the island to begin a new season.
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The PGA Tour did not share further details about the 2027 schedule upon its announcement about leaving Hawaii, but with Sentry reportedly being an event title-sponsor through 2035, it will need to find a new landing spot on the calendar. The logical stop would be Torrey Pines in San Diego, which checks the West Coast and great weather boxes, but the venue is also looking for a new sponsor, as its deal with Farmers Insurance ended in 2026.
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View of the 18th hole is seen during the final round of The Sentry at The Plantation Course at Kapalua on January 5, 2025 in Kapalua, Maui, Hawaii. (Photo by Ben Jared/PGA TOUR via Getty Images) (Ben Jared/PGA TOUR via Getty Images)
The Tour’s decision not to begin next season in Hawaii makes sense, as there are plenty of venues in the lower 48 states that are much easier to operate from, but the departure will have a tremendous financial impact on the state.
The Honolulu Star-Advertiser reports that The Sentry is estimated to have a $50 million annual impact on the community, while the Sony Open directly generates an estimated $100 million in revenue per year, plus another $1 million per year to Friends of Hawaii charities.
Martin Dugard is a prolific author and writer. He’s also an assistant cross-country coach at Santa Margarita after being head coach at JSerra for 15 years.
His newest book is “The Long Run,” which discusses the 1970s running boom and is a narrative history of four who sparked the marathon boom: Steve Prefontaine, Frank Shorter, Joan Benoit Samuelson and Grete Waitz.
He’s going to have a book signing on Saturday at 1 p.m. at Barnes & Noble, 26751 Aliso Creek Rd., Aliso Viejo.
Don’t be surprised if he tries to run from Rancho Santa Margarita to his book signing.
This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email eric.sondheimer@latimes.com.
For years, Stephen A. Smith’s many football blunders have been easy enough to explain away.
He’s not an NFL guy (remember when he said the three key players for a game were three guys who weren’t playing in the game?)
Stephen A. Smith falsely claimed the Warriors haven’t made the playoffs since 2022, but Golden State reached the second round in both 2023 and 2025. (Jerome Miron/Imagn Images)
He’s definitely not a college football guy (remember when he called Jalen Milroe Jalen “Milroy” multiple times and then read the wrong stat line after a College Football Playoff game?).
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ESPN forces him into those conversations because First Take has to talk football, and Smith knows that football is the most popular sport in the country and he needs to be seen as an authority (even though he isn’t).
But Monday’s latest mistake is a lot tougher to excuse, because this time Smith wasn’t talking about the NFL or college football. He was talking about the Golden State Warriors, one of the defining NBA dynasties of the last decade.
In other words, he was talking about the sport and the league that’s supposed to be his bread and butter.
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While discussing whether Steve Kerr has coached his last game with Golden State, Smith confidently stated the Warriors “haven’t been back to the playoffs since that championship in 2022.”
Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr looks on during a game against the Sacramento Kings. (Robert Edwards/Imagn Images)
That’s not even close to true. Not only did Golden State make the playoffs last season, but they also reached the postseason in 2023. Last year, the Warriors made the playoffs, beat the Rockets in seven games and advanced to the second round before losing to the Timberwolves. In 2023, they beat the Sacramento Kings in the first round and before losing to the Lakers in the Western Conference semifinals.
So, Smith wouldn’t even have been right if he said they haven’t won a playoff series since 2022. But he didn’t say that. He said they didn’t make the playoffs in any of the past four years, except they did it twice.
Yikes.
This is not an obscure piece of NBA trivia that Smith could be easily forgiven for not knowing. Perhaps he was too busy playing solitaire on his phone and just missed two of the past three NBA postseasons. That’s a tough look for the guy who fancies himself as the No. 1 NBA analyst in the country.
And it’s a terrible look for ESPN, as they keep selling Smith as one of the faces of their NBA coverage.
Stephen A. Smith made a brutal gaffe while talking Warriors playoff history
If Smith made this kind of mistake while talking about the NFL, nobody would be shocked. At this point, sports fans practically expect him to butcher football analysis. It’s almost endearing that a guy with the ego of Smith can be so consistently wrong while also delivering every “fact” with the utmost confidence. It’s part of the Stephen A. experience.
But this one hits differently because the NBA is where he’s supposed to at least know the basics. This is where Smith prides himself as being an authority figure.
Stephen A. Smith incorrectly stated the Golden State Warriors haven’t made the playoffs since their 2022 championship, despite the team reaching the postseason twice since then. (Candice Ward/Imagn Images)
And yet he couldn’t keep the recent playoff history of the Warriors straight. The team whose head coach is in the news every other week. The team that has won four championships since 2014. Arguably one of the most important franchises in the NBA over the past 15 years.
Yes, Golden State missed the playoffs in 2024 after getting bounced in the Play-In Tournament (although they won 46 games that season). And yes, it fell short again this season. But that’s a lot different from acting like Steve Kerr has spent four years wandering the basketball wilderness since winning that 2022 title.
He hasn’t. In fact, the team is 175-153 in the past four regular seasons.
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The Warriors made the second round in 2023. They made the second round again in 2025.
Before burying Steve Kerr on national television, maybe Stephen A. Smith could take 10 seconds to confirm whether the Warriors were actually, you know, in the playoffs.
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