Rams QB Matthew Stafford Intends To Play In 2026; Team To Retain TE Tyler Higbee, RT Rob Havenstein For 2025

Before the Matthew Stafford sweepstakes got underway this offseason, a competition in which the Raiders and Giants emerged as the top contenders to acquire the Rams’ Super Bowl-winning quarterback via trade, Stafford first had to determine whether he was even going to continue his playing career in 2025. A little over a week after Los Angeles’ divisional-round loss to the Eagles, Stafford told his club he would not be retiring.

Both player and team knew after their 2024 restructure that Stafford’s contract would need to be revisited again if their relationship was to continue, and this year, the Rams gave the veteran passer permission to speak with other teams to determine his value. Although both Las Vegas and New York were prepared to part with draft capital and authorize a two-year contract featuring up to $100MM in guarantees, Stafford decided to stay with the Rams on another reworked pact.

Head coach Sean McVay recently confirmed that, just as the parties did last year, compensation due later in Stafford’s contract was accelerated to this season, and that is what facilitated an agreement. The exact financial details are not yet known, but what is clear is that Stafford’s thru-2026 deal was not extended. As such, if and when the parties find themselves in the same position next offseason – which McVay expects – there will be no more future years from which to borrow money. In other words, an actual extension and/or raise will need to be hammered out to keep Stafford with the Rams in 2026 and perhaps beyond.

Of course, that assumes the 37-year-old passer will want to keep playing in 2026. While a player’s thoughts can always change, Stafford does not sound as if he intends to again contemplate retirement after the upcoming campaign.

On a recent episode of Travis and Jason Kelce’s New Heights podcast, Stafford said, “I’m going to be [with the Rams] at least another year, and hopefully some after that” (via Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk).

Stafford went on to call this offseason’s uncertainty “a little nerve-wracking,” and though such uncertainty appears to await next year as well, it may be entirely contract-related rather than retirement-related. Although Stafford always preferred to remain with McVay and the team that has employed him for the last four seasons, his use of the word “hopefully” indicates he still may not finish his career with the Rams.

The beyond-2025 futures of Los Angeles TE Tyler Higbee and RT Rob Havenstein are also uncertain, as both players are entering platform years. McVay recently confirmed, however, that both will be back with the club this season (via Jourdan Rodrigue of The Athletic).

As Rodrigue notes, the fact that Higbee and Havenstein have one season left on their existing deals warranted such confirmation from the head coach (as did the fact that both of them are coming off injury-impacted seasons). Higbee, 32, has operated as the Rams’ full-time starter at tight end since 2017, but he sustained a torn ACL and MCL in the 2023 postseason that delayed his start to the 2024 slate (he also suffered a chest injury in this year’s wildcard round, though he returned for the divisional-round matchup, catching seven balls for 54 yards and a score).

Havenstein, who is entering his age-33 season, has been a stalwart at right tackle since joining the Rams as a second-round pick in 2015. He has never earned a Pro Bowl or All-Pro nod, but he has started all 141 games in which he has appeared and has consistently generated good to excellent marks from Pro Football Focus. His return will be key for an aging QB and a team that has designs on another postseason run.