[ramsman34]

Roster bonus can be anything I believe. But, they count against that season’s cap unless they are fully guaranteed. Then I think they can be spread out. Roster bonus guaranteed each season is a good way to go as Staff has to be healthy/on the roster to earn it giving the Rams some assurance they won’t be in dead money hell if he is not. Staff is probably going to want some form of guaranteed salary plus guaranteed roster bonus and maybe a smaller signing bonus that would spread out over the deal. I still think he ends up with a 4 year deal with the last 2 seasons controlled more by the Rams (roster bonuses); with Staff getting a nice bump to market value for guaranteed money in ‘24 & ‘25 and having a good chunk in the table to start ‘26 & ‘27 should he want to, is able to and the Rams want him there. The only issue going this route his how big the cap hit would be each year as almost everything would be guaranteed $$. Just my gut feel.

[PARAM]

Roster bonus can be anything I believe. But, they count against that season’s cap unless they are fully guaranteed. Then I think they can be spread out. Roster bonus guaranteed each season is a good way to go as Staff has to be healthy/on the roster to earn it giving the Rams some assurance they won’t be in dead money hell if he is not. Staff is probably going to want some form of guaranteed salary plus guaranteed roster bonus and maybe a smaller signing bonus that would spread out over the deal. I still think he ends up with a 4 year deal with the last 2 seasons controlled more by the Rams (roster bonuses); with Staff getting a nice bump to market value for guaranteed money in ‘24 & ‘25 and having a good chunk in the table to start ‘26 & ‘27 should he want to, is able to and the Rams want him there. The only issue going this route his how big the cap hit would be each year as almost everything would be guaranteed $$. Just my gut feel.

The common "bitch" with giving Stafford more money is two-fold. "He's always injured" and "He's 35....how many more years does he have?" A check of the first claim shows over the last 4 years, he's missed 8 games due to injury and played 15 games or more 3 times. A check of the second claim requires checking other QBs who've retired to see how long they played.

The 10 QBs ahead of him in career passing yards all played until their late 30's or more.

Brady - 45
Brees - 41
P.Manning - 39
Favre - 41
Ben R - 39
Rivers - 39
Ryan - 37
Marino - 38
A Rod - 41
Eli -38

If you take out the high (Brady 45) and the low Ryan (37) you get an average of 39.5. And a couple of them were injured as much as, or more than Stafford. Favre (played through most of it like #9), P. Manning, Marino, Brees, etc. Stafford is going into his age 36 year so I would bet he's got at least 3 years to play, maybe 4. Maybe more. The guy right behind him, Elway, played through age 38 and retired after two consecutive Lombardis. I think that could be a factor in Stafford retiring prior to age 39 or 40. I'll take that.

[Elvis]

Yep. Stafford is far from injury prone. In fact he's been durable and a real warrior.

He's old but so what? That works in the Rams favor. He doesn't want a huge longterm contract, just more guaranteed for a couple years.

That seems eminently doable to me. We're not talking about 10 years with huge guarantees, only maybe 2 more. Even if Stafford does get hurt and can't play anymore, how much have the Rams really squandered? How much have they hurt themselves? Not that much...

[PARAM]

Even if Stafford does get hurt and can't play anymore, how much have the Rams really squandered? How much have they hurt themselves? Not that much...

Like you've said many times, dead money is over rated (over stressed, over emphasized, over whatever).

[snackdaddy]

Yep. Stafford is far from injury prone. In fact he's been durable and a real warrior.

Yup. This "Stafford is injury prone" is a short sighted take. And lazy if you ask me. I believe if they were in contention in 2022 he would have played. I also believe Donald would have been playing. And Kupp would probably be there for the playoffs. But it was a lost season so there was no point. Shut them down and reset for the next season is what they did.

[Elvis]

Like you've said many times, dead money is over rated (over stressed, over emphasized, over whatever).

And in this case, we're only talking a couple years, not big long term contract like with Goff, Gurley, Cooks, etc...