When a team has no interest whatsoever in trading high-profile, well-known veteran players, even the mere suggestion of the possibility by reporters results in a rolling of the eyes and/or a two-word response: “Next question.”
When Rams G.M. Les Snead met with the media on Friday, his comments made it clear that the door is open for a potential offseason trade of quarterback Matthew Stafford and/or receiver Cooper Kupp.
When asked about Stafford’s future, Snead said this: “[I]t’ll take someone calling or us reaching out if we want to do that. Those are the things that’ll be determined down the road here.”
As to the possibility of trading Kupp or re-doing his deal, it was this: “[W]e hadn’t talked to him first so I wouldn’t do it here. Cooper and all these players that are at the end — macro level, we’re talking about a subset of players, not just Matthew and Cooper, that are coming to the end of their career and their contracts, they still have contracts with Rams. Do you keep going forward with that same contract? Do you restructure it in some way? For many reasons, those are all issues we really have to sit down and talk through. We haven’t done it yet.”
The Rams were trying to generate a market for Kupp before they turned a 1-4 start into a playoff run. And while there was never any tangible talk of trading Stafford, there were rumblings early in what looked to be a lost season that he was open to a fresh start with a contender.
Both players have said they intend to keep playing. Stafford, who turns 37 three days before the Super Bowl, is playing at a high level — and the balance of his current deal lands at less than half of the current market. Kupp’s deal doesn’t match his current production, and without a deal for him to take less, the Rams will be considering the possibility of trading him or, absent that, releasing him.
It’s an awkward posture for a team that seems to be in position to continue contending at a high level. They have plenty of great young players. But, as Snead said, they also have players like Stafford and Kupp who are “coming to the end of their career.”