Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford is coming off a career year and is the reigning MVP. Yet Pro Football Focus rated him only the fifth-best starter heading into the 2026 season, suggesting he continues to be disrespected by the media to some degree.
PFF’s Dalton Wasserman and Max Chadwick’s rankings of the NFL’s 32 starters are based on PFF passing grade, Wins Above Replacement (WAR) and EPA per dropback from the last three seasons. Stafford was placed behind Josh Allen, Joe Burrow, Lamar
Jackson and Patrick Mahomes, despite leading the league with a 91.7 PFF passing grade and 4.49 Wins Above Replacement. He was also the NFC’s highest-ranked QB, ahead of Jordan Love at No. 6.
One of the main reasons for his lower-than-expected ranking had to do with the team around him. Yep, you read that right:
“That said, the 2025 MVP enters 2026 in one of the NFL’s most favorable situations. Rams head coach Sean McVay remains one of football’s premier offensive minds, and the Rams’ dominant rushing attack consistently forces defenses to respect the run, creating favorable passing opportunities. Stafford has also had the luxury of throwing to Puka Nacua and Davante Adams, giving him one of the league’s best wide receiver duos.”
So, now we’re punishing a player for their success because they’re in a favorable situation? Are we serious? When Stafford was unable to win a playoff game during his 12 years in Detroit, the discourse around him was that he couldn’t win the big one. That was despite not having the team infrastructure to ever advance past the Wild Card Round. Now that he’s in a better spot, it’s mostly the situation around him that’s allowing him to play well. Make it make sense, and quit moving those damn goalposts!
Plus, while Puka Nacua is currently recognized as one of the NFL’s best receivers, that wasn’t always the case. He had to grow into that role with a quarterback willing to give him plenty of opportunities.
Stafford has done exactly that, as the BYU product is the fourth-most targeted wideout since 2023 with 432 targets. That is behind Ja’Marr Chase (505), Amon-Ra St. Brown (477) and CeeDee Lamb (450). He also ranks third in receptions in that span with 313, with Chase (352) and Brown (351) just ahead of him, and he has the second-most receiving yards behind Chase. Nacua made sure to give Stafford his flowers after the veteran won MVP.
See, PFF, game recognizes game. I suppose by their faulty logic, we’ll blame Stafford for trading for Myles Garrett, too, right? Curse you Matthew, how dare you try to maximize what’s left of your career! What’s wrong with you?!
Then, PFF chimed in on interception variance, which is as dorky as you’d expect:
“Stafford threw just nine interceptions in 2025 despite 21 turnover-worthy throws, with opposing defenders dropping nine potential interceptions (seven of them on genuine turnover-worthy throws). That wasn’t a one-year anomaly, either. His 2024 and 2025 campaigns rank as two of the three luckiest quarterback seasons on record, making it unlikely those breaks continue to fall his way in 2026.”
Even if those unlikely breaks don’t continue to fall his way this season, unless there is a significant uptick in interceptions, who honestly cares? Truly. Interceptions are unfortunately a part of a quarterback’s game. Whether it’s their fault or the pass catcher’s, they are going to happen, and the more you can get away with it, the better. Not sure why that’s necessarily a bad thing.
And if PFF is seemingly punishing Stafford for his last two years of good fortune, why do they have a problem all of a sudden? According to their article on the hidden story behind QB interceptions in May, the Rams’ signal caller has the second-luckiest career of the last decade.
Out of those 10 luckiest players, Stafford had the most dropped interceptions by far, and the second-most interceptions on turnover-worthy plays. Again, all I’ve got to say is oh well. Better luck next time defense, and maybe work on your butterfingers — 49ers fans reading this likely cringed as I said that.
Simply put, Stafford is going to be disrespected to some degree for the remainder of his career. It continued to linger after he guided the Rams to the Super Bowl title in 2021 and then after he won MVP earlier this year.
Heck, the disrespect can be felt in Vegas because even after winning the coveted prize, he has the fifth-best odds to earn MVP honors and defend his crown. Allen (+600), Jackson (+750), Drake Maye (+850) and Burrow (+900), per FanDuel Sportsbook.
Quarterbacks face the most scrutiny out of any position, and Matthew Stafford continues to face the brunt of it despite having a successful second act in Los Angeles. Though he’s not going to win over everybody, the media should really put more respect on his name after he guided L.A. to another deep playoff run last season and is aiming to do it again in 2026.
