The Las Vegas Raiders and their conspicuously influential minority owner Tom Brady may have targeted their next quarterback, according to a new report from The Las Vegas Review-Journal.
Matthew Stafford, who has been given permission by the Los Angeles Rams to gauge his trade market with other teams, has been contact by Brady, multiple NFL sources told the newspaper.
The 37-year-old Super Bowl winner is under contract for two more seasons, but is rumored to be seeking an extension with more guaranteed money than his current deal offers.
Beyond the Raiders, there are several other potential suitors for Stafford, including both the New York Jets and Giants, as well as the Cleveland Browns or even the Indianapolis Colts.
The Raiders, too, have options, including potential free agents such as Minnesota Vikings quarterback Sam Darnold or one of the Pittsburgh Steelers’ two signal callers, Russell Wilson and Justin Fields.
And then there is the upcoming NFL Draft, with projected first-round picks Cam Ward of Miami and Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders, as well as longer-term projects like Texas’ Quinn Ewers or Syracuse’s Kyle McCord.
Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford warms up in Philadelphia on January 19
Tom Brady is a Fox Sports analyst in addition to being a Las Vegas Raiders minority owner
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But Raiders fans should hold off on buying a custom Stafford jersey. As the Review-Journal’s Vincent Bonsignore is quick to note, many things would need to take place for the Georgia product to find his way to Sin City.
Not only would Brady, majority owner Mark Davis, new coach Pete Carroll and general manager John Spytek need to sell Stafford on playing with the Raiders, but they would then have to renegotiate a new contact with the quarterback.
And even if the Raiders clear those hurdles, there is still the matter of negotiating a trade with the Rams, who could play hardball given Stafford’s Super Bowl success.
Neither Carroll nor Spytek discussed Stafford at the scouting combine in Indianapolis on Tuesday, but it’s safe to say they’re considering their options.
‘I don’t really want to talk about other teams’ players and get in trouble in my first press conference here,’ Spytek said. ‘But I would just say that if there’s an opportunity for any player that we think can add value to the Raiders, we’ll look into it.’
The Raiders still have 27-year-old Aidan O’Connell, 29-year-old Gardner Minshew and 25-year-old Carter Bradley under contract for 2025, although it’s unlikely that all three will still be with the team when off-season mini-camp and training camp get under way later this spring and summer.
Brady & Co. have already picked a coach in former Super Bowl winner Pete Carroll
Stafford has remained solid under center for the Rams.
Although he tossed a modest 20 touchdown pᴀsses this season – less than half of the 41 he threw in 2021 – Stafford was efficient in 2024. Just 1.5 percent of his pᴀsses were intercepted, which was his lowest rate since 2010, and the team ended the year on a high note, winning six of its last seven.
He did, however, battle some injuries in 2024, as revealed by his wife Kelly on a recent podcast.
‘He cracked four ribs,’ Kelly revealed. ‘But just didn’t really let anyone in to know really much about it. [He] continued his everyday process like nothing was wrong, would come home and be miserable.’
He originally suffered the injury in Week 15 against the San Francisco 49ers, but appeared to have aggravated it in the playoff loss in Philadelphia.
