Rams’ Matthew Stafford announces he will play in 2026 after winning MVP award

SAN FRANCISCO — Retirement will have to wait a little while longer for Matthew Stafford. After being named NFL MVP for the first time in his 17-year NFL career, the Los Angeles Rams quarterback announced on the NFL Honors stage that he will be back for the 2026 season. Before this announcement on Thursday night, Stafford’s playing future had been up in the air ever since the Rams’ season ended in the NFC Championship. 

“I’ll see you guys next year,” Stafford said with the MVP award in hand and four daughters alongside him. 

“It’s something that I’ve been thinking about,” Stafford told reporters after receiving the award. “Talking with my family about even before the season ended, whether or not they wanted me to continue to play and whether or not it felt like I wanted to keep playing. I ended the season on a healthy note and was a part of a great team. I had a bunch of teammates in the crowd, coaches in the crowd, and it just felt like the right thing to do at the right moment. 

“It’s a family decision. I have my girls with me, so it just felt right. Happy to be coming back.”

Stafford, 37, just completed a prolific 2025 season that found him voted as a first-team All-Pro along with this MVP honor. His 46 passing touchdowns were a franchise record and a career high for the former No. 1 overall pick in 2009. He was also just the fourth quarterback all time with at least 45 passing touchdowns and under 10 interceptions on the year.

“This game takes a lot out of you,” Stafford said when asked why he considered retirement after a season where he played at such an elite level. “You saw the people, the four little girls that were standing on stage with me, and I want to be as big a part of their life as I possibly can be. That’s really important to me, and if they weren’t supportive of me playing, I wouldn’t do it. 

“I’m lucky to have little girls that want their dad to do what he loves to do. They love cheering me on and all my teammates. It’s a special thing to have that, but it’s not something I’m willing to lose over a game that I love to play there’s no question about it but if they weren’t behind me in that decision, I don’t care how good I played that year or the year before or whatever it is, you know, we’d have some real talks.”

Stafford is also just the 15th quarterback ever to win MVP and have a Super Bowl on his résumé. Ten of those other 14 players are in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, while three of the ones currently on the outside looking in are simply not eligible, but will get in (Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers and Patrick Mahomes). 

With that in mind, Stafford has positioned himself quite nicely to one day be enshrined in Canton, Ohio, but the clock for his eligibility won’t start ticking quite yet.