Matthew Stafford will play in 2026, a boon for the Los Angeles Rams after reaching the NFC Championship Game in 2025. But the Rams are also in a prime window to find a QB of the future, and a trade could be a fitting solution.
The Rams have been figured as a team that could target a QB in the 2026 draft, even with a trade to move up. However, that relies on the teams ahead of them not taking their target.
Instead, a trade for a more proven player like Spencer Rattler could prove worthwhile.
Rams Trade Pitch Lands Saints’ Spencer Rattler
GettySpencer Rattler #2 of the New Orleans Saints in action during a game against the Seattle Seahawks.
ESPN’s Benjamin Solak named the Rams among the teams that could be trade “fits” for Rattler, a fifth-round pick in the 2024 draft and former starter for the New Orleans Saints.
This Heavy Sports Rams trade pitch would send a mid-round pick to New Orleans for Rattler.
Rams get:
- Spencer Rattler
Saints get:
- 2026 fifth-round pick
“The Saints don’t want to trade a young quarterback on a rookie contract who improved as a sophomore, but teams need developmental passers, and Rattler is the best candidate this spring,” Solak wrote on February 25. “Rattler excelled as more of a quick-distribution point guard last season, but he also showed good creation ability on longer, movement dropbacks. He could fight — and easily beat out — a free agent veteran in training camp for a rebuilding team.”
The Rams are not a rebuilding team, and Stafford is as established as it gets coming off an MVP-winning season.
Still, there is reason to believe teams like the Rams could roll the dice with a trade for Rattler.
“Rattler showed the Saints enough the past two offseasons that they were willing to give him a shot,” ESPN’s Dan Graziano wrote in the same piece. “There could be teams out there that think enough of his talent to bring him in to see if they can coach him up into a more consistent starter.”
Rams Could Extend Win-Now Window With Spencer Rattler
GettySpencer Rattler #2 of the New Orleans Saints looks to throw a pass against the Chicago Bears.
The key question the Rams would have to address before a trade for Rattler, or any other current NFL QB, is that the clock has already begun towards their next contract.
Rattler is entering Year 3 of a four-year, $4.3 million contract.
The Rams are in good enough shape financially that the cost is not an issue at this point. They also have a need, with Jimmy Garoppolo a free agent and Stetson Bennett IV the only other quarterback under contract for 2026.
Bennett, a fourth-round pick by the Rams in 2023, has yet to take a regular-season snap. Rattler’s 2,903 yards, 12 touchdowns, and 10 interceptions on 62.7% completion offer a baseline.
He is also mobile, with 313 yards on 49 career rushing attempts.
Rattler is 12-10 as a starter, playing for a Saints team that has been meandering around a rebuild before turning the reins over to 2025 draftee Tyler Shough. Notably, Rattler, who turns 26 in September, is younger than Bennett and Shough.
The Rams would have a longer runway with Rattler, whose skill set could intrigue head coach Sean McVay and, even more, assistant head coach Kliff Kingsbury, than with Bennett.
Rams Poised to Pounce
GettyLos Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay celebrates a touchdown against the Detroit Lions.
The Rams could trade the pick for Rattler and still have seven others in the 2026 draft. That includes four picks in the first three rounds.
Two of those picks are in Round 1.
They would not have picks in Rounds 4 or 5. However, they would have two in the sixth and another in Round 7. That is plenty of ammunition to build out the roster even after a potential Rams trade for Rattler.
Like Heavy Sports’s content? Be sure to follow us.
This article was originally published on Heavy Sports
The post Rams Offseason Trade Proposal Lands Dynamic Former Starting QB appeared first on Heavy Sports.