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An Arch Manning succession target for the Rams is very realistic with Matthew Stafford’s clock ticking
The Rams have two first-round picks that they could potentially use to move up to select Manning No. 1 in next year's draft.
LOS ANGELES — Day 2 of an unanticipated Matthew Stafford watch brought a slight perception regression for the Los Angeles Rams. The sun was shining at Loyola Marymount University and practice was running at a brisk pace. But in a twist, Stafford was neither working to the side Wednesday, nor surveying drills and aiding the other quarterbacks who were taking all of the snaps.
In fact, he wasn’t on-hand at all.
To the alarmists, who continue to be haunted by the elbow soreness that scuttled Stafford’s season in 2022 and rolled over the Rams with it, it’s hard not to wonder if his unforeseen back soreness is being underplayed by the franchise. Or if it might be something that’s getting worse, with Stafford’s absence being a flag that speaks more authoritatively than the franchise’s brain trust’s assurance that this is all OK … all part of the plan … all just a measurement in the larger vantage.
“He was working with the training staff,” Rams head coach Sean McVay said Wednesday. “To be out here on his feet — could he be out here? Yeah, but what's more beneficial for him? I probably should have been a little bit more specific as to [what] working on the side [meant] — maybe working in the tents, things like that. So that was according to plan. I kind of misspoke [Tuesday] as far as ‘working out onto the side.’”
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Speaking to Yahoo Sports, McVay reiterated that there has always been a plan in place to work Stafford in slowly in 2025, keeping an eye on later in the season rather than overburdening him with early work that isn’t necessary at this point in his career.
“This isn’t anything new,” McVay told Yahoo Sports. “It’s just one of those things that at the early parts of camp we were going to monitor and restrict his workload anyway — really for the mental and physical aspects of it. That made it easy to say, ‘F*** that, the first five-day acclimation period we’re not even in pads, it’s not even real football right now.’ It’s the right thing to do for him, No. 1, and for our team.”
Contrary to any anxieties, it doesn’t resonate as damage control by McVay. Instead, it screams an element of management by the Rams' brass, trying to deal with back soreness from Stafford that wasn’t anticipated. A development that, as one team source told Yahoo Sports, happened when Stafford was traveling on vacation in recent weeks with his family prior to the opening of camp. The kind of thing that can develop when you have a 37-year-old quarterback who has a history of health issues, including concerns with his back.
Realistically, everyone believes — including inside the Rams — that Stafford is deeply into the sunset portion of his NFL career. So much so, there’s a feeling inside the franchise that if the Rams win the Super Bowl this season, Stafford is going to use that opportunity to retire, a la John Elway with the Denver Broncos in 1999, after he’d secured the second Super Bowl title that would ensure he was a first-ballot Hall of Famer. According to a team source, even Stafford himself has joked with staff that the Rams' acquisition of a second first-round pick in the 2026 NFL Draft from the Atlanta Falcons is a sign that L.A.'s brass expects him to hang it up after the 2025 season.
But does that mean the Rams are also exploring Stafford replacements?
The Rams have already targeted Arch Manning as the No. 1 QB in next year's draft class ... if Manning chooses to leave Texas. (Getty Images)
(CFP via Getty Images)
It’s a complicated question. First and foremost, Stafford is still operating inside a Super Bowl window open for the Rams. The leadership both in the coaching staff and front office is steadfast in his ability — if fully healthy — to lead Los Angeles to one more title in the next two seasons. That said, it’s clear there is a fixed vantage on the horizon, with Rams decision-makers knowing the next offseason is where they have to start moving toward a succession plan. Most likely toward a very young player who can grow with McVay and spend an elongated period attached at the hip.
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One prominent name that surfaces inside this ideology is Texas quarterback Arch Manning, who some believe will end up being the No. 1 pick in the 2026 NFL Draft following his 2025 season — if he leaves college before his senior year in 2026. Manning is tied to the Rams for a very obvious reason: Les Snead’s stepson Taint is known to be a close friend of Arch Manning, and Snead himself chatted up Arch Manning at the Texas pro day prior to the 2025 NFL Draft.
But it goes deeper than that. Speaking to a handful of Rams personnel sources, Manning is — at this moment — considered by the staff to be the lone Tier 1 quarterback in the 2026 NFL Draft, regardless of who else could enter into the selection process. Why? The Rams covet Manning’s prototypical size (6-foot-4, 219 pounds) and throwing acumen … but also believe his high level of athleticism sets him apart from from every other college quarterback. So much so, the comparison for Manning inside the franchise is that his ceiling after the 2025 college season could be a Josh Allen-type of prospect who is actually stronger physically and a faster athlete than Allen was when he entered the draft in 2018.
That’s some significant praise from a team that’s going to need a quarterback sooner than later. Could it change with Manning’s performance in the 2025 college football season? Certainly. But his No. 1 perch atop the collegiate ranks of quarterbacks is absolutely where the Rams evaluate him right now. And they may have the ammunition to make a run at Manning in the 2026 class if he declares, thanks to a boatload of draft picks that include two first-rounders next spring.
Rams head coach Sean McVay has begun training camp without Matthew Stafford on the field. (Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
(Robert Gauthier via Getty Images)
Interestingly, a high-ranking Rams source told Yahoo Sports that even if Stafford returns to the team in 2026, the Rams would — at this point — still lean into drafting Manning (if he were gettable) and then put him on ice for his rookie season, similar to the Kansas City Chiefs keeping Patrick Mahomes on the bench behind Alex Smith in 2017. The source added that the franchise believes Stafford would be open to such a scenario, knowing that 2026 will almost certainly be his last season in the NFL, regardless of what transpires during the course of the regular season and playoffs.
For now, there are more moving parts than a Swiss watch when it comes to the Rams’ succession plan. But the reality remains that they’re thinking about it in a very real and tangible way. Maybe moreso than ever, with Stafford once again sidelined with health issues.
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