Matthew Stafford

Matthew Stafford is a three-time Pro Bowl quarterback with the Los Angeles Rams of the NFL, who led the team to victory in Super Bowl LVI in 2022.

Early years

Stafford was born in Tampa, Florida, to John and Margaret Stafford, who both worked in sales. He grew up in Highland Park, an affluent suburb of Dallas, and showed an affinity for sports at an early age, dribbling a basketball when he was just two years old. His first love was baseball. “I thought I would have played baseball up until probably my sophomore year of high school,” Stafford recalled years later in an interview. “Then I started playing quarterback and got some offers to play football.” That ended his baseball career, “but I loved it growing up. This was my favorite sport.”

Stafford attended Highland Park High School, a football powerhouse, where he became the starting quarterback in his sophomore year, and once played in front of a crowd of 32,000 fans at Southern Methodist University’s Gerald J. Ford Stadium. While Stafford led the school’s football team, his childhood friend Clayton Kershaw was pitching the school baseball team to dominance.

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In 2006 Stafford was ranked the sixth best overall prospect in the nation and the number one quarterback by 247 Sports. He played college football at the University of Georgia, where he went 27–7 as a starter, throwing for nearly 8,000 yards; the team won the 2006 Chick-fil-A Bowl, the 2008 Sugar Bowl, and the 2009 Capital One Bowl.

NFL career in Detroit

In 2009 the Detroit Lions, coming off the NFL’s first 0–16 season, selected Stafford with the number one pick in the draft and signed him to a six-year, $72 million contract—with $41.7 million guaranteed. At the time it was the biggest contract given to an NFL draft pick in history. “It’s crazy,” Stafford said. “I feel like you can’t write it any better than that. It’s a wild story, and it’s good to be living it.”

The Lions went 2–14 in Stafford’s rookie season, but he went just 2–8 as a starter, with a poor passer rating of 61.0. Injuries limited him to only three starts in the 2010 season, but things clicked in 2011, when he tossed 41 touchdown passes and threw for more than 5,000 yards, leading the Lions to a 10–6 record—their first winning mark since 2000. The team made the playoffs, but lost in the wild card round to the New Orleans Saints. Stafford was named the Associated Press NFL Comeback Player of the Year.

The Lions had two losing seasons after that, when Stafford’s numbers dipped, but he earned his first Pro Bowl in the 2014 season, when he led the Lions to an 11–5 record. But they got bounced in the wild card round again, this time at the hands of the Dallas Cowboys. The Lions returned to the playoffs two years later, but once again they made an early exit, with a 26–6 blowout loss to the Seattle Seahawks.

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Success in Los Angeles

In January 2021, after three straight losing seasons, the Lions sent Stafford to the Rams in a blockbuster trade for quarterback Jared Goff, two future first-round draft picks, and a third-round selection. After a dozen years with the Lions, Stafford left as the franchise’s all-time leader in passing yards, completions, and passing touchdowns. He was an instant success in Los Angeles under young coach Sean McVay, who is considered one of the best offensive coaching talents in the NFL.

In his first season Stafford tied his career-high in touchdown passes with 41, and he led the Rams to a 12–5 record and a Super Bowl title—the franchise’s first since Super Bowl XXXIV in 2000, when the team was known as the St. Louis Rams. In the Rams’ 23–20 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals in Super Bowl LVI, Stafford completed 26 of 40 passes for 283 yards and three touchdowns, along with two interceptions. The Rams slumped to 5–12 the next season, but rebounded in 2023 and 2024 to make the playoffs, both times with 10–7 records. Before the 2025 season, the Rams and Stafford negotiated a new contract that paid him $44 million in 2025, and $40 million if he remained on the team in 2026.

The 2025 season

In 2025, at age 37, Stafford put together arguably the finest season of his career and was rewarded by being named the NFL’s Most Valuable Player. He led the league in passing yards with 4,707 and touchdown passes with a career-high 46. Stafford also had a career-best passer rating of 109.2, second in the NFL to New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye.

Stafford helped lead the Rams to a 12–5 record and a spot in the playoffs for the third straight year, where they pulled off a come-from-behind win against the underdog Carolina Panthers in the wild card round, with a score of 34–31. Stafford then helped the Rams win a thrilling overtime game against the Chicago Bears, 20–17, sending them to the National Football Conference title game against their division rival, the Seahawks, and earning a chance to play for another Super Bowl ring. However, Los Angeles lost to Seattle, 31–27.