Three Hidden Hills homes changed hands in two days this summer, and Matthew and Kelly Stafford were on both sides of one of the more unusual real-estate moves. The couple sold these properties for a combined $21.3 million on June 3 and 4, two of which they had bought from Drake in 2022. One of those properties had even been part of the rapper’s sprawling YOLO compound, a slice of celebrity real estate the Staffords had once added to their growing Los Angeles portfolio. The timing was interesting for a quarterback whose life has been moving in two very different directions.

He had just won his first MVP at 38, signed a new $55 million extension, and entered a season the Rams themselves know could be closer to the end than the beginning of his career. Stafford, meanwhile, has resisted putting a date on that ending, turning to veterans like Tom Brady and Drew Brees for advice on how long he might keep going. And somewhere amid all that movement, yet another financial matter was taking shape in California.

According to Page Six, the couple has been hit with a California state tax lien totaling $534,453.67, filed by the California Franchise Tax Board over unpaid taxes from the 2024 tax year. The lien was officially filed on July 14 and remains active, confirmed by the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk.

The filing attaches to property and property rights the Staffords currently own or acquire in the future. That does not mean the state has seized their homes; a lien is a legal claim that secures the unpaid tax against those assets. If the balance remains unresolved, interest and fees can continue to accrue. Representatives for the couple did not immediately return Page Six’s request for comment.

Off the field, the Staffords have built a serious real estate portfolio in Southern California since Matthew was traded from Detroit to Los Angeles in 2021. The couple bought a $28.15 million mansion in Hidden Hills back in 2023. The year before that, they picked up the neighboring property for $10.5 million. Lately they have actually been scaling back, per Page Six, selling three other Hidden Hills homes for a combined $21.3 million in June.

Those three sales were more unusual than the price tag alone suggests. Realtor.com reported that the deals closed within hours of one another, with two of the properties coming from Drake’s former YOLO estate. The third was the 7,500-square-foot red-brick mansion the Staffords bought for $10.5 million in 2022; it had eight bedrooms, 10 bathrooms, a pool and spa, colorful gardens and its own private vineyard. The property was also reportedly intended to become the family’s primary residence before the Staffords bought the neighboring $28.2 million spec mansion the following year.

The Staffords had spent close to two years trying to move those properties, putting the two former Drake homes on the market in fall 2024. One of the three sales was reportedly completed off-market, and Realtor.com noted that the $10.5 million mansion sold at a loss.

Stafford is 38 now, and 2026 could very much be his last season. His wife has already addressed what life will look like when the iconic quarterback hangs up his cleats.

Stafford has given a lot of thought to playing in the near future

This will be Stafford’s 18th NFL season. He signed a one-year, $55 million extension with the Rams this year, which pushed his career NFL earnings past $500 million and keeps him under contract through 2027, with the deal potentially reaching $60 million with incentives. He also earned his first NFL MVP award in 2025, throwing for 4,707 yards and 46 touchdowns while throwing only eight interceptions.

Those numbers were not simply good enough to win him an award. Stafford led the league in both passing yards and touchdowns, posted a 109.2 passer rating and guided the Rams to a 12-5 record. Los Angeles then won two playoff games before falling 31-27 to the Seattle Seahawks in the NFC Championship Game, one win short of the Super Bowl.

The season Matthew Stafford is walking into is not a normal one either. The Rams are not simply trying to squeeze one more season out of an aging quarterback. They have built a roster that gives Stafford a legitimate reason to keep thinking beyond 2026.

In April, Los Angeles also made one of its clearest moves toward the future, taking Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson No. 13 overall. The choice was striking because Stafford was coming off an MVP season, but the Rams’ own description of Simpson was revealing: the rookie is part of a “forward-looking” plan and an eventual heir apparent, with no timeline set for when that handoff will happen.

That means the Rams are doing two things at once. They are preparing for the quarterback who comes after Stafford while still building aggressively around the quarterback they have now. General manager Les Snead had said the offseason would be about maximizing Stafford after he committed to playing in 2026, and the team later traded for Myles Garrett.

The season Matthew Stafford is walking into is not a normal one either. Los Angeles went all-in this offseason, trading for Cleveland’s All-Pro edge rusher Myles Garrett. Garrett arrives after setting the NFL’s single-season sack record with 23 in 2025, while the Rams also added cornerbacks Trent McDuffie and Jaylen Watson to a defense that was a clear weakness in their NFC Championship loss to Seattle.

For Stafford, that changes the calculation. He is not returning to a roster that merely hopes to contend; he is stepping into one that NFL.com has called a Super Bowl favorite after the Garrett trade.

Everyone in the building, including Stafford, knows that it’s a big ask. But after talking to Tom Brady and Drew Brees, the Rams star might be interested in extending his career a tad bit.

“I was talking to Drew — this was before last season — and he was like, ‘How old are you, again?’ I was like, ‘I’m 37.’ He’s like, ‘You might have your best five years of your career coming up,'” he said on Green Light. And I was like, ‘Huh.'”

“I never really thought about it that way. You’re taught as a player in this league it’s a young man’s game and the older you get, you’re just kind of doing everything you can to try to stay up to par with everybody else. And Drew saying that kind of lit a fire under me, and it give you a little bit of belief that maybe an old guy can go out there and spin it around a little bit.”

Brees’ prediction sounded ambitious when Stafford first heard it. Then Stafford went out and produced the best regular season of his career at 37. Now the idea of playing well into his late 30s—or even into his 40s—doesn’t sound quite as far-fetched as it once did.

The question is whether his body will agree. Stafford has described retirement as a “year-to-year” decision, saying that committing beyond the upcoming season feels daunting and that he wants to see how he feels after playing it.

The team has also been careful with how it’s managing its stars through training camp, building in extra rest days for both Garrett and Stafford as the Rams prepare for a logistically unusual season opener, a Week 1 trip to Melbourne, Australia, to face the San Francisco 49ers.

That opener will come September 10, when the Rams and 49ers meet in Melbourne for the NFL’s first regular-season game in Australia. For Stafford, it will be the start of an 18th season that is simultaneously being treated as the present and planned around as if it won’t last forever.