The Los Angeles Rams‘ roster has experienced massive turnover in the two years since the team won Super Bowl LVI, and the influx of youth has quarterback Matthew Stafford finding it hard to connect with his teammates, according to his wife, Kelly.
“It’s kind of crazy. So, Matthew’s been in the league a long time. He’s like, ‘The difference in the locker room has changed so significantly.’ They have a lot of rookies on their team, they’re very young. But he’s like, ‘I feel like I can’t connect,'” Kelly Stafford said on her podcast, “The Morning After With Kelly Stafford,” last week.
“In the old days you’d come out of practice, you’d shower, and people would be playing cards, interacting. Who knows what they’re doing, but they’re doing something together. Playing pingpong, they have a tournament going on. They’d at least be talking. But now they get out of practice, and meetings during training camp, and they go straight to their phones. No one looks up from their phones. Matthew’s like, ‘I don’t know … am I the dad? Do I take their phones? What do I do here?’ He’s like, ‘I want them to see me not as a coach.'”
Matthew Stafford, 35, is entering his 15th NFL season and third with the Rams. The Rams enjoyed roster stability in his first two seasons, but several high-profile players left in free agency or were traded this year. The turnover on defense is such that defensive lineman Aaron Donald and middle linebacker Ernest Jones are the only defenders who started the team’s Super Bowl victory over the Cincinnati Bengals. The team also selected 14 players in the 2023 NFL draft.
Now Kelly Stafford says her husband is struggling to have his new teammates see him as an equal.
“They say ‘sir’ to him and s—,” she said. “He’s like, ‘No, we’re on the same level here, we’re both playing in the league. Let me get to know you.’ He said it’s so different and so hard to get to know these guys. He had a book printed out. He had the equipment guy get a book printed of all their faces, and all their names, ’cause he’s like, ‘I need to know their names.’ We need to talk, so I’m gonna find their names and I’m gonna say, ‘Hey so-and-so, how was your weekend?’ So, they know I know them and maybe we should get to know each other so there’s chemistry on the field.’
“But I think nowadays, it’s really hard to develop that because all these young kids, they don’t care. Or it’s not that they don’t care, but they’re so used to going straight to their phones instead of having some fun with some guys in the locker room. It’s different. It’s kind of sad.”
“He said it’s so different and so hard to get to know these guys. He had a book printed out. He had the equipment guy get a book printed of all their faces, and all their names, ’cause he’s like, ‘I need to know their names.'” Kelly Stafford
Kelly Stafford said she and her husband planned to host a team party, but those plans were scrapped when their house flooded because of the aftereffects of Tropical Storm Hilary. She said if they hosted the team at a dinner, most of the guys would attend but then suggest going “to the club” and not talking at the dinner. She said when they were with the Detroit Lions, the franchise was good about hosting events, and she suggested the Rams follow suit.
“I would set it up so that the players have a box that they can all go to this [Messi] game so that they can hang out,” she said. “The Lions always had events and were good at that. So, when you lose or you win, it feels like it doesn’t mean as much because your team isn’t connected like they used to be.
“I think Matthew feels it the most because he’s so old and like a leader on the team. But he’s like, ‘I don’t know how to lead people I have no connection with. I have to somehow find a way to connect with them.'”
