SAN FRANCISCO – Surrounded by his four daughters on stage at NFL Honors Thursday night, Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford capped off his MVP acceptance speech by announcing he will be back to play in 2026.
"To my four beautiful daughters who I am lucky enough to be sharing the stage with … I am so happy to have you at the games, on the sideline with me, and I can't wait for you to cheer me on next year when we're out there kicking ass," Stafford said. "And so I'll see you guys next year. Hopefully, I'm not at this event and we're getting ready for another game at SoFi."
The 2026 season will mark Stafford's 18th in the NFL. In 2025, he led the NFL in both passing yards (4,707) and passing touchdowns (46).
"Something I've been thinking about and honestly talking with my family about, even before the season ended, whether or not they wanted me to continue to play, whether or not I felt like I wanted to keep playing," Stafford said, when asked what made Thursday night the right moment to make that announcement. "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, some coaches in the crowd, and just felt like the right thing to do at the right moment. It's a family decision. I have my girls with me, so just felt right. Happy to be happy to be coming back."
Asked what there was to consider with the decision of coming back or not given he was coming off arguably the best season of his 17-year career, Stafford said that "this game takes a lot out of you. You saw the people, the four little girls that are standing on stage with me, and I want to be as big a part of their life as I possibly can be, and that's really important to me, and if they weren't supportive of me playing, I wouldn't do it.
"And 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, the year before, whatever it is, we'd have some real talks."
While Stafford made the decision public Thursday, head coach Sean McVay – who was among those in the audience at the Place of Fine Arts Thursday night to see him take home the MVP award – indicated he'd know for a little while. He said it "felt great" seeing and hearing that news.
"It was good to be able to allow him to be able to announce that," McVay told theRams.com. "Those were things that we knew was coming, but I thought it was really special for him to be able to deliver that news. Everything starts with Matthew, and when he's at the switch, we've got a chance. It starts all over, and that's why you got to love the grind. He loves everything that every day entails, and we'll build it back up again. But you sure feel good with him running the show."
