If Stafford hangs up his cleats, what comes next for McVay and the Rams?

When Rams coach Sean McVay snapped at a reporter immediately after his team’s 31-27 loss to the Seahawks in the NFC Championship game last Sunday, he revealed an anxiety that lies deep beneath the surface. 

“What the hell kind of question is that?” McVay barked when asked if Matthew Stafford would be back in 2026. It wasn’t bluster or bravado. It was fear masquerading as conviction. Because even if Stafford returns next season, the Rams are standing on the edge of the most dangerous cliff in professional football: life after a franchise quarterback, with no clear bridge in sight.

Stafford turns 38 next Saturday, but he just authored the best season in his illustrious 17-year career. He led the NFL in passing yards and touchdowns, played like a man who had finally cracked the code of time and looked every bit like the league’s MVP. There is still plenty of football left in his right arm, and Stafford has said as much, speaking warmly about the joy he still finds in the game and his desire to slow down before making any life-altering decision.

“I had a ton of fun playing football this season and had so much fun playing for the Rams,” Stafford said on SiriusXM’s “Let’s Go” podcast Monday. “So when I’m ready to figure that out, I’ll be ready to figure that out. That moment isn’t right now. I have so much more time, I feel like, to reflect on just the people and the season that we just had. I want to appreciate that and give it the time that it deserves before I start thinking personally about what’s next for me and my family and me.”

That’s fair. It’s human, and if anyone has earned that right it’s Stafford.

It’s also terrifying if you’re McVay.

Because if Stafford wakes up one morning and decides the grind no longer outweighs the bruises, the Rams don’t just lose a quarterback. They lose the axis their entire operation currently spins around. The offense, the protection schemes, the margin for error, the calm in the huddle — all of it evaporates overnight.

So, that leads us to the most important question on the Rams’ mind: What comes next?

Option 1: Promote from within

The cleanest option is the least inspiring: promote from within. Jimmy Garoppolo has lived this movie before. He’s been to a Super Bowl. He knows how to manage a roster with championship expectations. McVay trusts him. If Stafford retires tomorrow, Garoppolo becomes the adult in the room, and Stetson Bennett slides into the backup role, a former national champion whose career has been equal parts promise and pause.

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It’s a survivable plan. It’s not a thrilling one. Garoppolo can keep the train on the tracks, but he’s not pulling it uphill in January.

Option 2: Free agency

Free agency offers shinier toys and sharper risks. Tua Tagovailoa, if he’s even remotely available, would cost a fortune and come with a medical file thick enough to make a general manager sweat. That feels like a move McVay would never make, not with his preference in quarterbacks since his Rams career began in 2017.

Malik Willis is the more interesting chess piece. Athletic. Explosive. A QB who changes the math of a defense. People inside league circles have floated the idea of Willis in a McVay offense for a reason. Les Snead has openly hinted at wanting more mobility at the position, and Willis showed real growth in Green Bay, protecting the football and punishing defenses with his legs.

He’s started three games with the Packers and has appeared in 11 more since 2024. Over that span, he’s completed 70 of 89 passes for 972 yards, six touchdowns and no interceptions. He’s also rushed for 261 yards and three TDs. 

Willis will be a hot commodity on the free-agent market this offseason. A handful of teams — including the Dolphins — will be interested, and it’s more likely one of those teams will overpay for him. So unless the Rams believe Willis is the long-term answer, not just a temporary thrill, this is a gamble that could haunt them financially and schematically. 

Option 3: Draft Stafford’s successor

Then there’s the NFL draft, where hope goes to get sharpened — or destroyed.

The 2026 quarterback class is thin. Mediocre at best. There’s only two quarterbacks projected to go in the first round. Fernando Mendoza is almost certainly going to the Raiders at No. 1 overall. After that, you’re talking about projection, not certainty. Ty Simpson fits the Rams’ profile in some ways, but acquiring him likely means trading up and sacrificing premium capital while the roster is still Super Bowl-ready.

Which brings us to the most dangerous, seductive option of all: do nothing at quarterback. Go all-in. Again.

The Rams have two first-round picks in 2026. They could pour gasoline on this roster, add another blue-chip defender, another weapon for Stafford, and squeeze every last ounce out of this window. Then, in 2027, they could take their swing at a QB class that actually moves the needle.

Arch Manning sits at the center of that fantasy. The Rams are enamored with him. His size, his poise, his bloodlines. He’s the kind of prospect you plan seasons around. If not Manning, that 2027 class will offer other quarterbacks who can be molded, developed and taught to breathe McVay’s offense the way Stafford does.

It’s a patient plan. It’s also a dangerous one because patience assumes Stafford gives you time.

Option 4: If Stafford retires, blow it all up

And lurking behind all of this is the unspoken ending nobody in the building wants to say out loud.

If Stafford retires, what if McVay leaves, too?

He flirted with it after the 2022 Super Bowl. He flirted with it again after the nightmare 2022 season. Broadcasting will always be there, a velvet rope and a microphone waiting. If Stafford walks away, the job changes overnight. Coaching a contender is intoxicating. Coaching a rebuild is exhausting.

Davante Adams understands this better than most. He’s been everywhere. He’s seen the other side. And he’s been blunt with teammates: It doesn’t get better than this. Not the building. Not the culture. Not the leadership.

“After being here in this Rams facility, this organization, I just let them know, ‘It ain’t going to be greener than this. Whatever it is, I don’t care what you’ve got to do, make sure you stay in this building and just appreciate a building like this. Just take my word for it,’” Adams told ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith this month. 

That’s the real succession plan the Rams are wrestling with. It’s not just about replacing Stafford. It’s about preserving an ecosystem that works because the right people are still in the room.

Measure twice. Cut once. Stafford deserves time. The Rams deserve clarity. What they can’t afford is paralysis. Snead waited once before on Von Miller after the 2022 Super Bowl, and when he walked, Snead had to scramble for his replacement.