What Matthew Stafford testing the market means for Tennessee Titans in QB carousel ahead of free agency and the 2025 NFL Draft

Stafford is the domino that can shake up the entire 2025 QB carousel

Easton Freeze — Tennessee Titans Beat Writer
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Dec 8, 2024; Inglewood, California, USA; Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford (9) throws the ball against the Buffalo Bills in the first half at SoFi Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
© Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

The largest domino of the 2025 offseason has always been Los Angeles Rams QB Matthew Stafford. Whether or not that domino falls will dictate how the heavyweight teams in this fight will shake out. And the latest development in Stafford’s ongoing contract negotiations is making his exit look more and more possible.

Per Tom Pelissero, the Rams have given Stafford's camp permission to speak to other teams and test his market.

Now right off the top, the Titans would love to be the team who lands Stafford. I wrote what I know about that right here. The issue is the price, and logistically, it’s probably just not feasible for them. So while they’ll kick all the tires there are to kick on that front, I’d be surprised at this point if they were seriously anywhere close to being the team to get that done.

But Stafford does have some very serious suitors potentially willing to spend more than Tennessee. Namely, the New York Giants and Pittsburgh Steelers.

The case for the Steelers is easy: they’ve desperately needed decent QB play since the final couple of Big Ben seasons. They continue to make it as a playoff team, but their ceiling is just so low with the level of quarterbacking they’ve had. Fans and the organization alike are fed up, and this may be their chance to land a real difference maker. If Pittsburgh is the team to land Stafford, the only impact it really has on Tennessee is one more team entering the QB sweepstakes: the Rams.

The Giants are a different story. They’ve got a GM and Head Coach on the hotseat, who both probably feel a little bit trapped in this QB carousel. I wrote about why that is in detail right here.

Bottom line, this offseason appears to be a 4-team race for 3 quarterbacks: the Titans, Browns, Giants, and Raiders fighting over Cam Ward, Shedeur Sanders, and Sam Darnold. As for the Giants positioning in all of this, it looks like they have two teams ahead of them in the draft order who they’re at the mercy of when it comes to the rookies, and a team behind them in the draft order who are prepared to dictate terms on the Darnold bidding.

New York is in no-man’s land. And that’s at least part of their strong public interest in landing Matthew Stafford.

If Stafford goes to New York, it changes the landscape of the QB race. The Giants would be all set, and the Rams would tap in and take their place on the QB waitlist. But their draft positioning and desperation is completely different from what the Giants offered to the Titans as a potential trade partner. It could significantly diminish the odds of the Titans driving up the bidding to trade up to 1st overall.

If Stafford goes anywhere, the way the rest of these dominoes fall could look very different. Stafford could be in New York or Pittsburgh. Could that mean Rodgers lands in LA on a sweetheart deal? At least one experienced GM thinks it’s possible. Or maybe the Rams end up going after Sam Darnold. He’s exactly the kind of guy McVay would love, coming off the heels of being in the Shanahan and O’Connell systems.

If Darnold lands somewhere other than Las Vegas, are they in desperation mode? The whole reason league circles expect Vegas to dictate the bidding on Darnold is because they don’t seem to have any other choice. New HC Pete Carroll isn’t in a position to orchestrate a lengthy rebuild without quality QB play early. Could they become a bidder on the 1st overall pick to secure their guy?

And then what happens with other teams in need of QB help, like the Jets? They have the 7th overall pick and are without any semblance of a plan that we know of publicly. Do they become desperate?

Needless to say, Stafford moving on from the Rams is likely to reshape the landscape of this offseason. And since the Titans are in the position of highest overall QB leverage, it will directly impact how they come out of this critical spring.

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