In the wake of Aaron Donald’s retirement, the Los Angeles Rams still have one clear advantage over most of their NFC competition: Matthew Stafford throwing passes to Cooper Kupp and Puka Nacua, playing behind what figures to be one of the best offensive lines of his career. At 36, Stafford is also the oldest starting quarterback in the NFC, but he’s stayed in this league for this long for a reason which is that he’s very good at what he does.

So good in fact that the Rams gave Stafford a four-year, $160 million contract in 2022 that is now going into year two. It is also the last time in the contract that Stafford has any guaranteed money on it. That will change for a short period between the end of the 2024 season and the third day of the 2025 league year: Barring anything that happens between now and then that assures Stafford’s place on the roster (like winning another Super Bowl) or off (like another 2022 season), the Rams have to make a huge decision after the season that could impact the immediate and long-term future of the franchise.

Do they let Matthew Stafford’s $27 million base salary in 2025 become fully-guaranteed, in addition to a $5 million roster bonus, or do they decide that 2024 is the final season with Stafford?

Per Overthecap.com, on March 19, 2025, the Rams have a $5 million roster bonus due for Stafford and a $7.5 million roster bonus due for Cooper Kupp. That’s in addition to Kupp already having $5 million of his $12.5 million base salary fully-guaranteed. Kupp has a massive $29.8 million cap hit in both 2024 and 2025.

The Rams would save $7.5 million with $22.2 million remaining in dead cap by releasing Kupp next year.

Remember, it was only a year ago that reports surfaced that the team asked Stafford to re-do his contract, which they denied and then the quarterback contradicted their denial. L.A. had no real opportunity to release Stafford, as the dead cap would have been too large to absorb, but it is apparent no teams were willing to trade for him after an injury-plagued season for the entire Rams roster. That ended up working perfectly for Sean McVay, as the Rams rebounded in 2023 and made the playoffs, now Stafford is back to being one of the top quarterbacks in the conference, if not the entire NFL. There are for once no questions about Stafford’s health.

However, age 36, 37, and 38 seasons are rare for any quarterback.

The L.A. Rams already have $247.5 million in contract liabilities for 2025, which is more than than their liabilities in 2024, so that means eventually the team needs to find out where to trim the fat and get compliant to keep the team the same, if not better. That savings will be found in a variety of ways, probably not by releasing or trading Stafford, but the decision is no less huge in 2025 even if you think it’s a formality. (It’s not a formality, but I respect why it seems like it should be.)

$32 million is $32 million whether you are rich or poor because the Rams are working with a salary cap and a budget. There is no clear “next step” if Stafford retires or parts ways with the team a year after Donald did, Jimmy Garoppolo would seem to be nothing more than insurance for the upcoming season, so whether the team addresses quarterback in the draft now or next year that could be one viable option to prepare for what’s after Stafford.

Unless the Rams make changes to their contracts this offseason, which is still possible, there will be a $32 million decision on Stafford and a $15 million decision on Kupp in 2025. The preparation for 2024 is ongoing, but preparing for the future is infinite.