Rams head coach Sean McVay says Matthew Stafford is great at relating to young players

Eric Williams

NFC West Writer

According to Los Angeles Rams coach Sean McVay, 35-year-old graybeard Matthew Stafford isn’t the old guy on the block shouting at teenagers to get off his lawn.

McVay provided some damage control on Tuesday when asked about comments from Kelly Stafford — the wife of Matthew Stafford — who recently said on her podcast that her husband has had trouble connecting to players on L.A.’s young roster who are more interested with interacting on their phone than with the veteran signal-caller.

“I’m not concerned because I think if you know Kelly, I took that as more of a joke at the old man,” McVay said. “And I’ll be honest; there’s a couple throws that he made during training camp where I wanted to say, ‘Yes sir,’ to him as well. … If you watch and if you come out to camp, this guy’s done a phenomenal job of leading, connecting with his teammates.

“It’s one of those deals that becomes a fun narrative in a dead period. And I know Kelly well enough to know that she was probably taking a good old rib at the old man as her husband’s getting older playing, but this guy’s done a phenomenal job. I know how much he loves his teammates and how much they love him. That is the least of my concerns.”

All of L.A.’s league-high 14 draft picks made the team’s initial 53-man roster. According to the Philly Voice, the Rams had the second-youngest roster after teams initially cut down to 53 players on Tuesday.

Asked if he believes it’s a challenge for older players like Stafford to bridge the generational gap with younger players, McVay said that his veteran quarterback has the right temperament to create those important relationships, helping to build chemistry within the team.

“He’s one of the most emotionally intelligent and authentically good people that I’ve been around,” McVay said. “His ability to connect on a personal and a football level with guys, that comes really seamless to him. And so, I think the best part about these locker rooms is you already have a similar common ground where everybody loves football. Those are the types of guys that we want to onboard, and then just the way that he carries himself in terms of the way he treats everybody with respect, the way that he’s really intentional about trying to get to know people and ask those types of questions.

“There’s a reverence and a respect that he’s earned because of what he’s done in this league.”

Stafford has also experienced a physical rebirth on the field. For the first time since 2019, the Highland Park, Texas native is fully healthy and not rehabilitating from an injury. That allowed Stafford to fully participate in offseason work and training camp.

Stafford appeared more nimble moving inside and outside the pocket during positional work. McVay said the Rams used individual drills geared toward activating Stafford’s movement skills to prepare him for the upcoming season. The Rams will open on the road against the Seattle Seahawks on Sept. 10.

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Stafford dealt with tendinitis in the elbow of his throwing arm before the start of last season, experienced concussion issues during the year and wound up on the season-ending injured reserve with a bruised spinal cord.

The Rams allowed 59 sacks last season, the third-most in the NFL. However, McVay only kept two quarterbacks on the active roster — rookie fourth-round selection Stetson Bennett and Stafford.

And while McVay said he could add a third to the active roster down the road to take advantage of the NFL’s new emergency third quarterback rule, the Rams feel pretty good right now about Stafford staying healthy behind a revamped offensive line.

“He’s been able to really be more active in the offseason than in previous years,” McVay said. “No matter how great you are when you’re able to work on your craft, you’re going to get better at it. He’s done an excellent job.

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“I know he’s played a little bit of tennis and he looks like (professional tennis players) Carlos Alcaraz and (Novak) Djokovic out there navigating the pockets, so I think he’s had a great camp. I know he is really having fun out there and I know that’s when we’re at our best. He’s done a great job of really doing the work and then there’ll be certain things that we try to do to be able to move the spot and move the launch point, as always is the case with our offense. He certainly gives us the ability to do that.”

Eric D. Williams has reported on the NFL for more than a decade, covering the Los Angeles Rams for Sports Illustrated, the Los Angeles Chargers for ESPN and the Seattle Seahawks for the Tacoma News Tribune. Follow him on Twitter at @eric_d_williams.

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