EmailPrintOpen Extended ReactionsLOS ANGELES -- As the Rams and Matthew Stafford prepared for the quarterback's 17th season in the spring of 2025, they wanted to take away some of his mental load during the offseason program.For Stafford, that meant doing some of the Rams' organized team activities from home, where he has a gym and access to the entire Rams film system.That approach -- which allowed him to spend more time with his family instead of being at the facility for what head coach Sean McVay called the "monotonous parts of the offseason program" -- helped Stafford go into the season fresher than he has in years past.And while not the intention heading into the offseason, Stafford had a lighter physical load during training camp too. After injuring his back between the offseason program and the start of training camp, Stafford did not throw for a significant portion of the summer. He returned to practice on Aug. 18.Stafford did not miss a practice all season and played some of the best football of his career. His 4,707 passing yards and 46 passing touchdowns led the league. He was named the NFL MVP for the 2025 season.As the Rams begin their 2026 offseason program -- heading into the 38-year-old's 18th NFL season -- McVay said the team wants to "keep a very similar approach."The key, McVay said, is "the autonomy that [Stafford has] earned where he and I really collaborate" with the team's medical and strength staff."I think the most important thing is when you're going into Year 18, how do we keep you as physically, emotionally and mentally fresh as possible?" McVay said.And while Stafford "loves to get out there and get the work in," McVay said, it wouldn't be surprising to see the Rams modify a training camp schedule for a healthy Stafford. Along with not playing key starters during the preseason, McVay has also typically built in rest days during training camp for veteran players. Last season, most players who were past or heading into their 10th NFL season had a day off practice every five days or so."[During] training camp [last year], we learned some stuff where you're saying, 'OK, what can we apply even though that wasn't necessarily by design that can allow [Stafford] to be at his best?'" McVay said. "We haven't gotten to that, but we are going to take a similar approach to the offseason. He has a real strict regimen that he's already on and the ownership and autonomy that he has is exactly what we wanted to be able to keep going. That's why it was important."It's the way the Rams want to structure Stafford that made the backup quarterback position so important. While Los Angeles was hoping to re-sign Jimmy Garoppolo, who served in the role for the Rams the past two seasons, he is considering retirement. While McVay acknowledged Garoppolo could return, he said it is unlikely.That need at backup is no longer as pressing because the Rams selected Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson with the No. 13 pick in April's draft. While McVay said Simpson will compete with 2023 fourth-round pick Stetson Bennett IV for the backup quarterback role, both players are expected to get significant reps during training camp and likely the preseason as well."Being able to add another quarterback into the mix [in Simpson] allows us to operate in a manner where you're saying, 'Hey, what's the priority? How do we keep our guy feeling as good as possible and being able to do that without allowing it to fall off too much?'" McVay said. "That was where Jimmy was so valuable last year in the absence of Matthew during training camp."Last training camp, Garoppolo took the first-team reps while Bennett took the second-team snaps. Bennett also started and played all of the Rams' first two preseason games.McVay has said multiple times that he considers Garoppolo to be capable of being a starting quarterback, which allowed the Rams to operate their offense and "be able to give looks to the defense that we were able to still get better as a team even though the MVP of the league wasn't able to participate in the majority of training camp," McVay said."I missed a ton of time in training camp," Stafford said midway through the 2025 season. "I thought Jimmy did a hell of a job keeping our guys sharp and getting us ready to go. I'm really appreciative of him for that. Our group did a great job and got ready to go. Then obviously I was able to come back in late in the game there and feel good enough to go play."While the time away from the offseason was refreshing for Stafford, the inability to practice during training camp was not. Stafford called that time "challenging," saying, "all I want to do is practice, play, get out there and be with the guys."So while the Rams do not want to totally duplicate their offseason and training camp plans for Stafford, McVay says the team does see the importance of taking that similar approach."That's important to us," McVay said. "That's something we thought about and it'll be a very similar approach. As far as training camp, we'll see how we get through the offseason and then be able to go down that road."
