In early 2021, nobody asked Kelly Stafford what she thought about her husband’s trade. Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford had to travel about 2,300 miles, and his family followed. Kelly spent a decade building a life in Detroit, surviving brain surgery and raising four daughters. Leaving was not a small thing. Five years later, she weighed in anyway.

“Five years ago, today,” she captioned her recent highlight reel post. “Thank you @rams for this continued, incredible adventure ❤️.”

On March 18, Kelly Stafford posted a highlight reel of Matthew’s Los Angeles Rams career on her Instagram, marking the fifth anniversary of his trade to L.A.

For someone who built The Morning After podcast around revealing what most families in the NFL didn’t, these 12 words had years of hidden memories behind them. 

Last year brought the clearest context for it. When Matthew spent three weeks weighing free agency options before re-signing in Los Angeles, Kelly was direct about what that stretch actually cost her.

“He’s [Stafford] very good at compartmentalizing everything,” Kelly had said. “Me on the other hand, when he says you think about the uncertainty all the time you go crazy, I went fu****g mad, I went so crazy.”

She’d said those three weeks felt like “three months.” Re-signing meant staying. Not re-signing meant uprooting everything again. That gives the fifth anniversary post a specific kind of gravity.

The trade bringing Stafford to L.A. was finalized on March 18, 2021. The Rams sent quarterback Jared Goff, a 2021 third-round pick, and two first-round selections (2022 and 2023) to Detroit in exchange for Stafford.

He arrived with a 74-90-1 career record across 12 Detroit seasons and zero playoff wins. No quarterback in NFL history had spent longer without reaching .500.

What came next was a move to the Rams franchise. Stafford set franchise records in his debut season with 4,886 yards, 21 touchdowns, and then delivered three touchdown passes in Super Bowl LVI, as Los Angeles beat the Cincinnati Bengals 23-20, the first title for the franchise since leaving St. Louis.

Then came 2025, with the shot-caller at 37, Stafford led the NFL in passing yards (4,707), touchdowns (46), and posted a career-best 109.2 passer rating. Eventually, it was no surprise that he’d won the AP NFL MVP award for the first time in his career. That late-career arc does not get cleaner. 

Meanwhile, Detroit didn’t walk away empty, either. The draft capital from the trade became Jameson Williams, Jahmyr Gibbs, and Sam Laporta. Jared Goff earned three Pro Bowl selections with the Lions (2022, 2024, 2025) and finished fifth in the 2024 AP MVP voting. Both franchises came out ahead, and in NFL trade history, that was a rare exception.

While Kelly Stafford now celebrates half a decade in Los Angeles, that wasn’t the only Stafford announcement worth noting this month.

Matthew Stafford surprised his teammates with his extension announcement

At NFL Honors on February 5, after accepting his first MVP award, Matthew Stafford put the retirement conversation to rest on his own terms.

“So, I’ll see you guys next year,” Stafford had said. “Hopefully, I’m not at this event, and we’re getting ready for another game at SoFi.”

Now, head coach Sean McVay and general manager Les Snead had already anticipated this announcement. But Stafford’s teammates had not. When ESPN asked running back Kyren Williams whether he knew Stafford was coming back before that moment, the answer was direct.

“Everybody found out that night,” Williams noted.

Guard Kevin Dotson said something similar. Even the players sharing a huddle with him every week were watching the broadcast to learn his plans. By announcing it on stage, on national television, Stafford made a deliberate point of controlling his own narrative. As for the team, they’re delighted to have him back.

“The last two years have really been like, ‘All right, hold up. Give us an answer, please,’” Dotson said. “Once I heard that, I was like, ‘you can exhale a little bit.’ He’s such a guy that the team follows. We rally behind him so much that him being that pivotal piece for our offense, and really the team.”

Stafford signed a two-year, $84 million restructured deal in April 2025, with his $40 million 2026 salary owed to him this season. His cap hit sits at $48.3 million. Sean McVay confirmed in early March that extension talks are moving forward with “great dialogue.”

At 38, coming off the best statistical season of his career, Matthew Stafford is not at this table without leverage. With SoFi Stadium hosting Super Bowl LXI in February 2027, the Rams know exactly what kind of talent they have in their MVP. The question is what they are willing to pay to keep it, and for how long.