A few days ago, Sean McVay was all chill about Matthew Stafford missing practice. No big deal at all. He indicated that Stafford’s “feeling good” and “throwing.” Just part of a “smart” plan to ease a 17-year vet back into the grind. Translation: nothing to panic about… or at least, that’s what he hoped. But turns out…it might be time to ring the panic bells.

Now Stafford’s listed as week-to-week with back soreness. The optimism? It’s fading. Stafford still hasn’t taken a real snap, and everything’s been labelled as “precaution.” And to make things worse, an analyst just sounded the alarm, and it’s the kind of thing that takes preseason nerves and cranks them up to full-on panic mode.

Fantasy analyst Hayden Winks just said the quiet part out loud. Something the Rams fans would have a hard time accepting, but deep down? They know it too. “Matthew Stafford now week to week with back soreness. Twice had broken bones in his spine, then had a spinal cord contusion in 2022. The Rams have chosen to make his contract go year-to-year recently, despite him playing well when healthy,” he wrote on X.

You can’t really argue with that. With that history, at the age of 37? It’s impossible not to be concerned. Even though McVay says Stafford is “absolutely” on track to start Week 1, it’s not really about the first game. It’s about whether he can stay healthy for the major chunk of the season. And if history tells us anything, probably not.

Sources say they’re working off a modified practice plan, with Stafford set to miss the entire first five-day acclimation window. After that, it’s a light workload for the rest of camp. In the meantime, it’s Jimmy Garoppolo getting most of the first-team reps. And yeah, that is obviously raising some eyebrows.

Let’s be real, the man is 37. This is exactly the age where most NFL quarterbacks start to slow down. Even the healthy ones don’t always hold up, and with his injury history, the red flags are hard to ignore. Sure, he had a solid 2024. 3,762 yards, 20 touchdowns, 8 picks in 16 games, and helped the Rams to a 10-7 finish and a playoff spot. But heading into 2025? Every update, every missed practice, comes with a giant asterisk: Can his body still hold up?

There’s no one out there questioning his ability. If he is out there, on the pitch? He’ll produce. You can be your house on it. But being on the pitch is where the concern lies. It’s okay to miss practice reps in July, but when September comes? It will all come crashing down. And when we dive deep into his injury history, yeah, it probably will come crashing down.

Stafford’s spinal history raises red flags

It would’ve been okay (not okay, but relatively better) if it weren’t because of his back. Back in 2018, he finished the season with non-displaced fractures in his upper spine (which he played through, by the way). Then came 2022. A spinal cord contusion cut his season short. He had numbness in his legs after a hit. Nine starts, then IR. It was scary stuff, and it’s why every tweak, every back-related update now feels like a big deal.

That’s exactly where Winks’ concern stems from. “Idk how anyone couldn’t be concerned about a 37yo QB with back problems. when healthy, this offense is sick. odds that he can stay healthy this year are dropping,” Winks added to the thread.

In the last couple of seasons, he has managed to escape any major injury bombs. 2023 and 2024 were relatively clean. But now in 2025, this creeping back soreness is starting to raise eyebrows. As Dean Grisak from Turf Show Times put it, even though the Rams are being cautious, these nagging issues could be a slippery slope. If they’re not careful, we could be looking at a repeat of the scary stuff from 2022.

Sean McVay is keeping it cool, for now. “I don’t think we can be smart enough with somebody like Matthew… rushing him back… that doesn’t make sense. He feels really good about the plan… ultimately, it’s about having him feel as good as possible mentally, physically, emotionally going into Year 17,” he said.

The plan’s pretty simple: take it week by week, don’t push it. And if anything changes? Jimmy G’s on standby, ready to step in.