Rams' Matthew Stafford Continues to Fall in QB Rankings

Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford has had a very odd start to his 2026 season. After securing the league MVP in 2025, Stafford appears to be a bit off the mark to start of this year.

Through four games thus far, Stafford has put together 1,189 yards, six touchdowns, and six interceptions, along with a 61.1 completion percentage. 

Those stats alone paint a much different picture. For one, Stafford threw eight interceptions in all of 2025. Now, he has six through four games.

Secondly, having just over a 60 percent completion percentage is definitely unlike the signal caller. Stafford has not posted a completion percentage this low since he played for the Detroit Lions, when he had a 60.3 completion percentage in 2014.

The timing of Stafford's throws has looked off. He is overthrowing and underthrowing his receivers, and the interceptions appear to be due to his attempts to force a play. 

Stafford is still fourth in total passing yards, but he has got to clean up his turnovers. 

Due to the off-the-mark style of play that Stafford has produced thus far, he has now dropped an additional four spots in the latest quarterback rankings.

NFL.com's Nick Shook has Stafford at No. 13. down from No.  9 ahead of Week 4. 

"Matthew Stafford dropped a few dimes on Davante Adams, Puka Nacua, and Tyler Higbee against the Eagles, but he’s still a little off. His two interceptions represented another sloppy outing, and he’d probably like a do-over on a few narrow misses," Shook said. 

As stated above, Shook has also pointed to Stafford's playing being "off." That has been the case and was evident in Week 1 when the Rams took on the San Francisco 49ers.

That whole day could be chalked up to the poor travel plans from head coach Sean McVay, but Stafford has not quite bounced back yet. He was sailing passes over the heads of Davante Adams and Puka Nacua in Week 1, and has had a similar issue in three additional games.

That is not to say that Stafford is still not one of the best quarterbacks in the league; however, he is just not playing to the same degree that the NFL world has known him to play.

McVay spoke about the team being out of rhythm, and that sort of summarizes the quarterback situation as well. 

The good news for Los Angeles is that Stafford and the offense rallied to 14 unanswered points in the fourth quarter against the Philadelphia Eagles. That victory could have been the catalyst that the team needed to help propel them to additional wins.

Starting 2-2 is by no means a bad spot for the Rams. The issue is the NFC is stacked with strong teams, along with the 4-0 49ers and 3-1 Seattle Seahawks.

Los Angeles cannot afford to lose many more games if they expect to challenge for the NFC crown in January, and at the helm of leading the Rams to more wins is Stafford.