In a QB room that already has Matthew Stafford, the Rams still spent a first-round pick on Ty Simpson. The next questions were pretty obvious: What does it mean for Stafford’s future with the team? Of course, there could be some long-term planning at play here. The Rams would use Simpson later, while Stafford still remains the starter, but that is not how Kelly Stafford sees the situation. In fact, she seems unfazed by the entire conversation.

In a recent Instagram Q&A session with the fans, she casually brushed off any talk of a quarterback change. Someone asked if Matthew Stafford could keep playing for five more years, and Kelly Stafford had a pretty telling response.

“Up to these 4 ladies… but I could see that happening 🤣,” Kelly Stafford, Matthew Stafford’s wife, posted on her Instagram stories, along with a picture of Stafford with their four daughters (twins Sawyer and Chandler, 8, Hunter, 7, and Tyler, 5). 

Kelly’s response also fits into a much larger pattern of how the Stafford family has spoken about Matthew Stafford’s future over the past year.

While she has repeatedly acknowledged that retirement is something the family has thought about, she has been equally consistent about one thing: the decision ultimately belongs to him. As she once put it plainly, “I will support that decision no matter what.” At the same time, she has not hidden that stepping away from football would bring relief in some ways.

The emotional toll of injuries, media scrutiny, and the rhythm of an NFL season has been part of their family life for nearly two decades now. Speaking about that reality, Kelly admitted that “part of me is like, ‘Hey, retirement would be fun. Let’s see what the next chapter holds.” Still, even as she acknowledged that feeling, the family’s presence at games and around the team has continued to reflect how closely they remain tied to Stafford’s career.

That support has been visible throughout what has become one of the defining stretches of his career. Stafford’s four daughters have regularly been part of the Rams’ gameday environment, and Kelly has often described fatherhood as the role he values most away from football. She once noted that being a dad is his “favorite job,” something that continues to shape how the family approaches each offseason and each new decision about whether to keep playing.

Moments like the one she shared after the Rams’ NFC Championship loss earlier this year illustrated that balance especially clearly. After the game ended, Stafford returned home in the early hours of the morning and immediately shifted back into what Kelly called “girl dad mode,” tucking his daughters into bed at 2:30 a.m. before leaving doughnuts for them to wake up to the next morning. 

That context makes the Rams’ decision to select Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson with the No. 13 overall pick even more intriguing.

Why the Rams drafted Ty Simpson despite Matthew Stafford’s MVP season

Publicly, the organization has been careful to stress that the move does not change Stafford’s status as the starter. Head coach Sean McVay made that clear on draft night, saying, “Let’s make one thing clear: this is Matthew’s team.” Instead, the pick appears to reflect long-term planning rather than any immediate transition.

Internally, the Rams’ evaluation of Simpson centered on traits they believe translate directly into McVay’s system. Director of scouting Nicole Blake pointed to his processing ability and comfort operating in a pro-style structure, explaining, “You can tell just watching the film that he knows how to play the position. He’s a super-smart quarterback.” Assistant general manager John McKay echoed that confidence, noting that even with only 15 college starts, Simpson’s exposure to high-level situations at Alabama gave the staff enough evidence to project his development.

General manager Les Snead pointed to another quality that stood out during the evaluation process: patience.

“I think that is the benefit of going places, persevering and not just transferring trying to play,” Snead said. “There is an element of sitting, learning, developing and getting better.”

That developmental path is exactly what the Rams appear to envision continuing in Los Angeles. Simpson himself has said the years he spent waiting behind Bryce Young and Jalen Milroe were as valuable as the season he eventually started.

“I had to learn how to practice. I had to learn how to study when I wasn’t playing because I didn’t know when that time was going to come,” Simpson said during the predraft process.

For now, that same learning curve is expected to continue behind Stafford.

The timing of the pick also reflects Stafford’s contract situation as much as his performance level. While he is under contract through the 2026 season, his arrangement with the Rams has effectively operated on a year-to-year basis in recent seasons. NFL insider Ian Rapoport reported that the two sides have already made “significant progress” toward another extension that would keep him in the building for offseason work, even though the exact structure of the deal has not yet been finalized.

That uncertainty is part of the reason the Rams acted when they did. With the No. 13 selection, acquired through last year’s trade with the Falcons, Los Angeles found itself drafting higher than a team coming off an NFC Championship appearance typically would. As a result, the front office treated the opportunity to secure a potential successor as one they might not see again soon.

In that sense, the situation resembles the approach the Green Bay Packers once took with Aaron Rodgers and Jordan Love: remain competitive in the present while quietly preparing for the future at the same time.

None of that changes what Stafford accomplished last season. At 38 years old and entering his 18th NFL campaign, he led the league with 4,707 passing yards and 46 touchdown passes on the way to his first MVP award. Across 20 total games, he threw just nine interceptions on more than 600 attempts, while also leading all postseason quarterbacks in completions, yards, and touchdowns.

He confirmed after the season that he intends to return for 2026.

“I can’t generalize six months of my life 10 minutes after a loss,” Stafford said following the Rams’ NFC Championship defeat. “I appreciate the guys in this locker room a whole hell of a lot… everybody that helped me and helped our team be the success that we were this year.”

That perspective mirrors what the organization has continued to emphasize publicly. Even as Simpson was identified internally as the likely long-term successor, McVay reiterated that the timeline for any transition would remain tied to Stafford’s own decision about how long he wants to keep playing.

“Maybe it’s two years, three years, four years, who knows,” Blake said when discussing Simpson’s development window. “When you find somebody that you think fits that system… you just take them.”

For now, that leaves the Rams with a quarterback room structured clearly around the present and the future at the same time. Stafford remains the starter heading into 2026, Simpson is expected to develop behind him, and Stetson Bennett rounds out the depth chart as the immediate competition for backup reps.

The draft pick may have sparked questions outside the building, but inside it, the messaging has stayed consistent: Simpson represents the next chapter, eventually, not the current one.