Matthew Stafford is coming off of his first career MVP award and entering his age-38 season, but he’ll hit another new first in 2026: The quarterback has a $48.26 million cap hit next season, the highest cap hit of his career.
Here’s how it breaks down:
- $16 million base salary
- $9.6 million option bonus
- $22.6 million in prorated signing bonus
As a matter of fact, Stafford has the highest cap of any quarterback in the entire league in 2026.
Although Joe Burrow has more take home pay in 2026, Stafford has a higher cap hit than him and every other quarterback next season by just narrowly edging
out Joe Burrow at $48 million.
Justin Herbert, Deshaun Watson, Allen, Dak Prescott, Baker Mayfield, and Sam Darnold round out the top-8.
But even though Stafford has a higher cap hit, his percentage of the total Rams salary cap is actually lower than it’s been since 2023:
- Stafford took up 18% of the cap in 2024
- Stafford took up 16.9% of the cap in 2025
- Stafford takes up 15.4% of the cap in 2026
From that perspective, which is more important than total cap hit, Stafford is practically taking a discount.
Could Stafford’s cap hit go lower?
Doubtful. It does not seem as though the Rams will attempt to touch Stafford’s contract with a pay cut or a restructure or an extension. Sean McVay is happy for Stafford to go year-to-year with his career future, so this is where his contract stands and the Rams knew that going into 2026.
It also doesn’t appear as the Rams need the salary cap space for any reason.
At just 15.4% of the cap, there is no urgency to get more cap room despite Stafford being the “highest-paid quarterback” in the league this year by salary cap hit.
Notably, Stafford is not signed for 2027 but the Rams still owe him a $33.6 million cap hit next year anyway because of his bonuses according to OvertheCap.
Naturally a quarterback will get older every new season. But in some cases, he will also become more expensive.
