Breaking News: Les Snead Tells All- Rams GM Opens Up About Matthew Stafford’s Contract Negotiations

Les Snead has seen plenty of quarterback dramas over the years. The 2025 offseason might have been his most difficult yet.

Matthew Stafford’s dramatic loss to the Philadelphia Eagles was a stressful three and a half hours for Rams fans. However, the following month might have been worse.

One day, the Los Angeles Rams quarterback was thinking about leaving the team. The next day, rumors were running rampant that Stafford was going rogue with Tom Brady and the Las Vegas Raiders.

Of course, he ended up returning in essentially the same capacity for another season. The ultimate decision by Stafford sent ripples around the AFC and NFC.

In the end, Matthew Stafford’s 2025 offseason drama might not be logged in box scores and stat sheets, but the stressful situation will be remembered by fans for quite some time.

With the storm and some time having passed for Les Snead, he has had the chance to compartmentalize what took place. He was asked to give his updated thoughts recently.

Les Snead on his experience with Matthew Stafford

Speaking on a March 18 edition of the “Pat McAfee Show,” Rams general manager Les Snead described the experience of the offseason hoopla using words like “stress” and “friction.”

He said: “I think at the end of the day, the partnership with the franchise QB — it’s a nickname –‘franchise QB’… and it comes with parameters and there’s trade-offs with those parameters.

“At the end of the day, we’re partnering to go on this journey, to chase great, to chase good, to be better than good, and there’s some stress and drudgery with that.”

“But each year since the Super Bowl… there’s this element of working through some of those parameters, those trade-offs, and sometimes there’s an element of friction there when you go through those situations. …

“It was kind of a grueling month to work through ‘Hey, are we going to trade Matthew? Is Matthew going to want to go somewhere else? Is he going to want to come back here?’” He added.

The Los Angeles Rams went 10-7, losing to the Philadelphia Eagles in the Divisional Round after a 1-3 start to the season. The Eagles went on to win the Super Bowl, giving the Rams plenty of reasons to not beat themselves up too much by how things turned out.

Matthew Stafford’s next offseason could be even more stressful for Les Snead

At age 37, the Rams quarterback has entered into essentially year-to-year territory. His current deal extends until the end of 2026, per Spotrac.

However, his offseason drama of 2025 was similar to his situation dealing with the Rams in the 2024 offseason. In both offseasons, Stafford pushed the Rams to change his contract.

Next offseason, the pattern is set to continue. Now armed with older age, the quarterback has the power to dangle retirement almost like a weapon to ensure he earns top dollar. Until the Rams figure out a solution for the next decade, they will be forced to bend to Stafford’s will.

That is, until he quits altogether or shows a clear decline.