Sean McVay allowing Matthew Stafford to evaluate career on a yearly basis: 'He's earned the right'

Despite his MVP season last year, Matthew Stafford‘s future in the league and with the Los Angeles Rams appeared in flux after falling to the Seattle Seahawks in the NFC Championship game. He’ll be back in LA after all next season, however.

At the same time, head coach Sean McVay is preparing Stafford’s future to come up on a yearly basis. During the league’s annual meeting on Monday, McVay explained where Stafford stands heading into his 18th NFL season and sixth in LA.

“He’s earned the right to be on a year-to-year basis. If he told me that he wanted to play a couple more years, I’d believe him. If he told me it’s one more year — but he’s earned that right,” McVay said. “So, we understand that. I do think he’s in a situation where it wouldn’t shock me if he played more than one year. But we also have to be prepared, that if this is the last year — what does that look like?”

For now, Stafford is showing no signs of slowing down on the field. His MVP status indicates he’s playing on top of his game.

This season, he threw for 4,707 yards, his first time leading the league in that category. Stafford tossed a league-leading 46 touchdowns, threw just eight interceptions and completed 65% of his passes. In his last game against the Seahawks, Stafford threw for 374 yards and three touchdowns during the loss — a fitting performance fitting for the NFL’s MVP to end his season on despite falling short of the win.

At the same time, Stafford is the father to four young daughters. He’s 38 years old and could retire anytime he wants. That’s at the center of discussions every year between the two parties.

“We’ve had a lot of good discussions and dialogue,” McVay said. “And you know what, it’s really along the lines of, what do you and Kelly [Stafford, Matthew’s wife] really want? Does that look like, hey, are we going to keep that kind of year in place? Do we do anything additional? Or do we put two years in place? “He’s working through that, but it’s been a lot smoother than last year, to say the least.”