If he returns for an 18th NFL season, Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford will almost certainly demand a significant raise. And receiver Puka Nacua is positioned to potentially break the bank with an extension.
Those are just two issues Rams general manager Les Snead will deal with in the coming weeks and months as the franchise retools for the 2026 season.
Snead, who along with coach Sean McVay signed extensions this week, said Wednesday during a videoconference with reporters that the “opportunity to continue shouldering my responsibility” along with McVay and other executives for owner Stan Kroenke was “the opportunity of a lifetime.”
The Rams are waiting on a decision by Stafford, a finalist for the NFL most valuable player award that will be announced Thursday. Stafford turns 38 on Saturday.
“We’re going to let Matthew decide,” Snead said when asked if he expected Stafford to return. “I think we’ve had productive conversations with him, so we’re going to give him his space, right, to let’s call it, recover, rejuvenate and then determine, ‘Hey, do we want to get back on this horse again.’”
In 2024, after Stafford delayed his arrival to training camp because of a contract impasse, Rams executives said the team and Stafford agreed that his contract situation would be a year-to-year situation. Last year, Stafford and the team came to an agreement on March 1.
Asked if he anticipated a similar timeline this year, Snead said, “I think all of us want it to be shorter,” than 2025.
“That’s been our vision,” he said, “That’s how we set it up. That’s how kind of when we went through last year, and we said, ‘’Hey do we want to continue working together, partnering together and chasing, right, grabbing earning those special moments together,’ we definitely wanted to set it up where it wouldn’t be a [dragged] out timeline.”
Stafford is scheduled to carry a $48.3 salary-cap number in the final year of the extension he signed in 2022 after leading the Rams to a Super Bowl title, according to Overthecap,com. None of his $16-million base salary is guaranteed.
But Stafford is coming off one his best seasons. He led the league in touchdown passes and yards passing and was voted All-Pro.
Given that performance, does Snead anticipate a request for more compensation?
“At this point, I think the first part of the equation is a simple, ‘Hey, I want to be back, and let’s go. Let’s go chase, grab and earn those special moments together,’ and then we’ll go from there,” Snead said.
Nacua, defensive lineman Kobie Turner, edge rusher Byron Young and offensive lineman Steve Avila are players from the 2023 draft class who are eligible for extensions.
A few years ago, the Rams pulled back financially in anticipation of this offseason. They have already awarded extensions to running back Kyren Williams, linebacker Nate Landman and safety Quentin Lake, and they currently have a $48.2-million in cap space, according to Overthecap.com.
Nacua, an All-Pro and finalist for NFL offensive player of the year, earned about $1.1 million in 2025 and is scheduled to carry a salary-cap number of $5.7 million next season. But with his performance the last three years, Nacua, 24, is positioned to become one of the NFL’s highest-paid — if not the highest-paid — players at his position.
Last March, Cincinnati Bengals receiver Ja’Marr Chase received an extension that includes $109,8 million in guarantees and gave him an average annual salary of $40.3 million, according to Overthecap.com.
Snead is familiar with drafted players in similar positions. The Rams awarded then record-breaking extensions to defensive lineman Aaron Donald, running back Todd Gurley and quarterback Jared Goff.
“He’s evolved into one of the best,” Snead said of Nacua. “It seems like, ‘OK, that’s a pretty simple contract because it’s pretty self-explanatory where you fall in the ecosystem and the hierarchy.’
“But there’s also so many variables … that go into that, that make it more complex than it would seem on the surface level. So again similar to a few players that we’ve had in the past … that have been at that level in the ecosystem, you’ve got to begin communication and begin working through it to come up with a win-win solution.”
Cornerback Cobie Durant and safety Kam Curl are among the Rams’ pending unrestricted free agents. Snead said the team would address players with expiring contracts before working through extensions.
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