{"id":452038,"date":"2026-02-06T06:54:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-06T06:54:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/452038\/"},"modified":"2026-02-06T06:54:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T06:54:09","slug":"rams-quarterback-matthew-stafford-named-nfl-mvp-for-2025-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/452038\/","title":{"rendered":"Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford named NFL MVP for 2025 season"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

SAN FRANCISCO\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Rams<\/a> quarterback Matthew Stafford<\/a> will be back for an 18th NFL season.<\/p>\n

And he\u2019ll do it as the reigning NFL most valuable player.<\/p>\n

On Thursday night, Stafford was announced as the MVP during NFL Honors at the Palace of Fine Arts.<\/p>\n

And then he made a big announcement of his own.<\/p>\n

\"Rams <\/p>\n

Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford warms up before facing the Carolina Panthers in the NFC playoffs on Jan. 10.<\/p>\n

(Eric Thayer\/Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

Stafford, wearing a black tuxedo with a black shirt and black bow tie, accepted the award on stage with his four young daughters, who attended most games this season. He thanked his wife, Kelly; family; teammates; coaches; and those who helped him reach the milestone.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m so happy to have you at the games on the sideline with me and I can\u2019t wait for you to cheer me on next year when we\u2019re kicking a\u2014,\u201d Stafford said to his daughters, before turning his attention to the audience.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd so I\u2019ll see you guys next year,\u201d he said as a crowd that included coach Sean McVay<\/a> and several teammates began to roar. \u201cHopefully, I\u2019m not at this event and we\u2019re getting ready for another game at SoFi.\u201d<\/p>\n

Super Bowl LXI will be played at the Rams\u2019 home stadium, where they won Super Bowl LVI to cap the 2021 season.<\/p>\n

After Stafford spoke with reporters on Thursday, he told The Times that he had discussed his decision with his family and knew that he wanted to come back. He said he spoke with McVay and general manager Les Snead<\/a> \u201cabout how that might look and how it might go,\u201d and then decided to let the world know.<\/p>\n

\u201cI figured, \u2018Shoot, I don\u2019t really do the social media thing \u2014 this will be an easier way to let everyone know how I\u2019m feeling,\u2019\u201d he told The Times.<\/p>\n

McVay told The Times he was aware of Stafford\u2019s intent to return, but \u201cwe wanted to make it dramatic.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mission accomplished.<\/p>\n

Stafford\u2019s winning the award eased some of the pain of losing the NFC championship to the Seattle Seahawks,<\/a> McVay said. And gave him confidence about the Rams\u2019 outlook for next season.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll tell you what, man,\u201d McVay said. \u201cThat\u2019s the start to everything, is your quarterback position. And to be able to have a guy that\u2019s playing as good as he\u2019s ever played \u2014 and it\u2019s sustainable.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd you know he\u2019s loving it. He\u2019s surrounded by a great group of guys and we have a lot of continuity coming back. You start all over, but man, when he says he\u2019s in, that gives you a lot of confidence and excitement of how we can move forward.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, really happy for him. He\u2019s the most humble superstar I\u2019ve ever been around, and it\u2019s really cool. So if we can\u2019t be playing, this is a good consolation process.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stafford, a 17-year veteran, won the award by finishing ahead of New England quarterback Drake Maye<\/a> in balloting by a panel of 50 journalists who regularly cover the NFL. The panel is assembled by the Associated Press. Los Angeles Times reporters do not participate in voting for awards.<\/p>\n

Stafford, who turns 38 on Saturday, worked through a back issue that sidelined him for all of training camp and passed for a league-best 46 touchdowns and 4,707 yards. He led the Rams to a 12-5 record and directed an offense that led the league in scoring and yards per game.<\/p>\n

Stafford also engineered late game-winning drives in playoff victories over the Carolina Panthers<\/a> and the Chicago Bears<\/a> before the Rams suffered a 31-27 defeat by the Seahawks<\/a> in the NFC championship.<\/p>\n

Stafford, the top pick in the 2009 draft, played 12 seasons for the Detroit Lions before he was traded to the Rams in 2021 for Jared Goff,<\/a> two first-round draft picks and a third-round pick.<\/p>\n

He told reporters that the years with the Lions \u201chardened\u201d him and got him to a place in his career and life \u201cwhere I felt like nothing was really going to knock me out. It may knock me down, but it wasn\u2019t going to knock me out.\u201d<\/p>\n

In his first season with the Rams, Stafford led them to a Super Bowl title.<\/a> Now he is an MVP.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t sit here and tell you that five years ago I thought, \u2018Hey, I\u2019d be a Super Bowl champ and a league MVP,\u2019\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m just humbled that that\u2019s even the case. To be honest, it doesn\u2019t even feel like my name should be in that breath. But I am proud of the guys and proud of the accomplishments we\u2019ve been able to achieve.\u201d<\/p>\n

The MVP award was something of validation for a player who ranks sixth all-time in completions (5,562), yards passing (64,516) and is seventh in touchdown passes (423), but also shies from the spotlight.<\/p>\n

Before Thursday night\u2019s ceremony, Stafford walked the red carpet with his wife and daughters, the young girls all wearing similar dresses.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re probably more excited than I am, to be honest with you,\u201d Stafford told The Times as his family made their way to the theater for the program. \u201cThey get to get all dressed up and walk the red carpet, that\u2019s their deal, so I\u2019m happy to have them here.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Rams <\/p>\n

Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford arrives with his family at the NFL Honors awards show in San Francisco on Thursday.<\/p>\n

(Maddie Knight \/ Associated Press)<\/p>\n

A few hours later, Stafford was on stage accepting the MVP award.<\/p>\n

McVay and his wife, Veronika, attended the ceremony. Rams receiver Puka Nacua, a finalist for offensive player of the year, and running back Kyren Williams, a finalist for the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year award, also attended along with safety Quentin Lake.<\/p>\n

Now Stafford will be spending at least one more season together with them.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust felt right,\u201d he said, \u201cand happy to be coming back.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN FRANCISCO\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford will be back for an 18th NFL season. And he\u2019ll do it as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":452039,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[4281,349,211916,41404,194729,211914,211913,17164,26270,17159,5190,99,51565,211915,17368,7442],"class_list":["post-452038","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-los-angeles-times","tag-nfl","tag-nfl-mvp","tag-panel","tag-playoff-victory","tag-ram-quarterback-matthew-stafford","tag-rams-quarterback","tag-record","tag-scoring","tag-seahawks","tag-season","tag-sports","tag-stafford","tag-super-bowl-lvi","tag-touchdown","tag-yard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452038","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=452038"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452038\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/452039"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=452038"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=452038"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=452038"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}