Jim Alexander: I’m not sure what was the best part of Matthew Stafford’s, “Oh, by the way, I’m coming back” announcement while picking up his MVP award Thursday night at the NFL Honors show. Was it the sight of his four young daughters on stage with matching dresses – and football-shaped purses? Or maybe the way the cameras were prepared to show Sean McVay’s reaction in the audience when Stafford announced he’d be coming back?
I do think he might have lost a little bit of leverage, but I’m sure he’ll be taken care of. Earlier in the week, NBC’s Mike Florio said this to Pro Football Network: “I wonder if this year his leverage is, ‘I’ll just retire.’ And if they believe him when he says, ‘I’ll just retire,’ then maybe he gets closer to $50 million.”
Then again, I think everyone following the story understood Stafford already had leverage, because who possibly could the Rams have replaced him with? They were going to have to go shopping – I’d already seen one mention of a trade for Joe Burrow, and I think most of us cringed at the idea of the Aaron Rodgers Redemption Tour landing in Inglewood for a year. This way Les Snead can breathe a sigh of relief and then get to work on shoring up the secondary.
Mirjam, did you think he really might call it quits? I didn’t.
Mirjam Swanson: No way. There’s going out on top, but he didn’t go out on top. Yes, he was crowned MVP – and congrats to him and his teammates for that – but the Rams got frustratingly close to the top and just missed.
No one – least of all an A-plus competitor like Stafford – is going to walk away and let that bad taste linger forever, not when he and the Rams were that close, and had that much fun this season.
I don’t, however, know if next year can possibly be as successful as this season for Stafford. I mean, he’d never won an MVP award in his 16 prior NFL seasons – and he almost didn’t win this one. As our Adam Grosbard wrote, the Stafford-Drake Maye quarterback competition for MVP was the closest race since 2003.
Not that Stafford is playing for MVP, surely, but there’s no telling if he holds up physically as well as he did this year when he’s another year older, 38 for the 2026 season – especially considering how poorly he was feeling coming into this season.
But it doesn’t matter – he had to give it one more go. And however it goes, it goes. And maybe it goes like he’s wishing it will: “Hopefully,” he said Thursday night, “I’m not at this event and we’re preparing for another game at SoFi.”
Personally, I love the “older” athletes sticking around longer. I’m here for LeBron James extending his career, for Diana Taurasi and Tom Brady when they did it. I think it’s fun, I think it sends a good message to fans about not underestimating people when they get to be a certain age, about health and fitness, it lets generations watch the greats together for longer. It’s great.
Jim: I’m all for the veterans sticking around, too. (After all, I guess I fit in that category – age-wise, anyway, if not accomplishments-wise.)
When Snead had his end-of-season session with the media earlier this week, this was how he addressed Stafford’s status:
“On the macro level, when Matthew’s on the horse we go, ‘Let’s make the most of our time with Matthew.’ We’re well aware that there will be a time where we have to transition. You kind of do both at the same time. There will be two different teams with or without Matthew, obviously with the position he plays and how important that position is and how well he plays it. At the end of the day, we try to keep it simple. Let’s make the most of our time with Matthew. Then when the time comes and Matthew says, ‘You know what? Enough is enough.’ Then let’s be prepared to transition from there.”
But it’s good that they don’t have to start that process right away.
Oh, and there was one curiosity that came out of that MVP vote, which had Stafford winning with one more first place vote than Drake Maye: One voter picked Justin Herbert. I’m just curious who that was.
Our next subject today: Thursday’s NBA trade deadline, and the Clippers’ and Lakers’ activity leading up to it. My in-a-few-words evaluation, as sketchy as that might be: The Clippers are on the edge of a rebuild, both to get younger and to stay in a good position cap-wise. (And they’re replenishing their stock of draft choices, which is also necessary). The Lakers, who made one acquisition on the margins (Luke Kennard) but didn’t use any of their first-round draft capital at this point, are going to be all in on Giannis Antetokounmpo this summer, assuming that the Bucks remain serious about trading him.
Other teams made bigger splashes. And I was particularly amused by talk that the Washington Wizards have significantly improved themselves. Let’s see what the pundits are saying the next time Anthony Davis has to miss extended time to injury (and there will be a next time).
Was there anything you saw that intrigued (or infuriated) you?
Mirjam: Kennard is one more one-dimensional player on the Lakers’ roster. He’s an upgrade over Gabe Vincent because he’s a more dependable shooter. He’s not a great defender, but still, he could help the Lakers a little, for what “a little” is worth – if he lets it fly.
They need shooting and Luke is an incredible shooter – when he lets it fly.
He was in the 3-point contest as a Clipper, when he’d drive Coach Tyronn Lue (and the team’s fans) crazy by not just letting it fly. He was too deferential to Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, so hopefully he’s gotten over that, or he’ll get over that and feast on open looks provided by Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves.
Because if he – yep – lets it fly, he’ll make those shots, and having that floor-spreading gravity will obviously only help create space for Luka to operate.
First thing out of Lakers coach JJ Redick’s mouth on the record in regard to the trade last night: “He’s one of the best shooters in the NBA and I’m going to encourage him to shoot more.”
Hope, for Lakers fans’ sake, they don’t have to hear too much of that.
Let it fly, Luke!
And down the freeway in Inglewood? The Clippers did great. I think swapping out a 36-year-old James Harden, a dubious playoff producer before he got officially disgruntled, for Darius Garland was a terrific move.
And, yes, it eats into their vaunted cap space ahead of the 2027 season, but I like that they seemed to look at that room and ask themselves: Would we like to fill it with a 26-year-old two-time All-Star? And if yes, why wait? Why not do it now? You’d think that the Lakers would want to operate like that too, considering it’s now that they have LeBron and 26-year-old Luka Doncic playing together. But now, everyone is waiting for Giannis, who seemed happy to be staying put, judging from his social media activity yesterday post-deadline.
It’s going to be strange to watch the Clippers without Ivica Zubac, who was their longest-tenured player, arriving via a trade with the Lakers at the trade deadline in 2019. But, yet again, the Clippers did well with the return they got for him – a big haul for Big Zu. As our Janis Carr spelled it out: In return, the Clippers got athletic wing Bennedict Mathurin, center Isaiah Jackson and a provocatively protected 2026 first-round draft pick (protected 1-4 and 10-30!) plus a 2029 unprotected first-rounder and one second-round pick.
It’s a wonderful return – and a win for Indy, because Zubac is going to do well for them next season when Tyrese Haliburton gets back.
What I’d really like to know is whether the Clippers shopped Kawhi at all, or alternatively, whether any or many teams came inquiring about their best player. And, if so, whether they considered, even fleetingly, trading the face of the franchise.
I’m glad they didn’t, though, because Lue is talking about playing fast, and I’m looking forward to seeing Kawhi, as well as he’s been playing for the past six weeks or so, take the stage with this young group. With all the tanking that’s going to be going on around the NBA the rest of the season, I can tell you this, the Clippers might have bid adieu to Harden and Zu, but they’re not punting. Never do, and they’re not starting now.
Jim: That’s one thing I’ve respected about this organization — about both organizations in town, really. Both respect the game too much to tank. And in the Clippers case it wouldn’t have mattered the last few years and definitely wouldn’t this time because their first-rounder still belongs to Oklahoma City, the last vestige of the George trade.
The moves this week are designed in part to replenish their draft stock. But the acquisition of Garland and the resulting change of pace on the floor will make them more fun to watch.
This is how Cavs’ coach Kenny Atkinson responded the other night when asked about Garland’s evolution as a point guard: “He pushes the pace. He sets the pace, he sets the tone on how your group gets to offense. He’s really a pure point guard, I’m sure that’s what Ty loves about him. He’s a way underrated passer. He’s in the lead all the time. He can pass with both hands. He knows how to feed bigs. … obviously you’ve got Kawhi here, but he’ll be the head of the snake in terms of kind of pure point guard play.”
And now one last word about James Harden: I was dubious about how well he would fit when the Clippers originally acquired him. I’m still not convinced anyone can ever win a championship with him. But on at least one end of the floor, he is fun to watch. And I thought it was nice that when it became necessary for player and organization to go their separate ways, they at least worked together on a solution. Sort of a contrast from the way Chris Paul was exiled.
The week’s last topic: The final football game of the season Sunday evening. And it’s kind of interesting that while most of the Super Bowl activities are taking place in San Francisco this week, in connecting through the San Jose airport last week there were signs reminding all that the game is actually being played in their territory. It is 15 miles from Levi’s Stadium to downtown San Jose, 49 miles between the stadium and downtown San Francisco, according to Google.
All that aside, who ya got? Will the Seahawks at last atone for not giving the ball to Marshawn Lynch at the goal line 11 years ago?
Mirjam: Everyone I talked to in San Clemente – Seahawks QB Sam Darnold’s hometown, of course – this week assured me Seattle was going to win and win comfortably. So I’m going to roll with them.
What say you?
Jim: I made my pick almost a month ago, though not everything in that pre-playoff column panned out. (I had the Chargers losing in New England, but I didn’t think the Rams would get through the cold of Chicago’s Soldier Field). But I had the Patriots and Seahawks in the Super Bowl, and I’m staying with the score I posted then: Seattle 26, New England 21.
And I’ll repeat what I said at the time: I wouldn’t take those picks to the bank. If you lose money on this one, don’t blame me.