Who Should I Start? Matthew Stafford or Tyler Shough

Monday, May 5, 2:25 PM

The Los Angeles Rams and quarterback Matthew Stafford finally finalized terms on his new deal for the 2025 season, sources tell NFL Network's Ian Rapoport. Stafford will earn $44 million this year, with $4 million already paid and the other $40 million fully guaranteed. The Rams were exploring the possibility of trading Stafford this offseason, but instead the two sides worked something out to keep him in L.A. for at least one more season. The 37-year-old two-time Pro Bowler threw for 3,762 yards, 20 touchdowns and eight interceptions in 16 regular-season starts but had the Rams peaking in the postseason, and they almost pulled off the upset over the eventual Super Bowl-champion Eagles in the playoffs. Although Stafford makes the Rams a Super Bowl contender and he was much better down the stretch, he wasn't even a top-15 fantasy QB in 2024. Consider him as no more than a midrange QB2 in fantasy.

Thursday, June 26, 2:37 PM

New Orleans Saints quarterback Tyler Shough was selected in the second round of the 2025 NFL Draft, and veteran signal-caller Derek Carr (shoulder) announced his retirement shortly after. This leaves Shough as the favorite to win the QB1 job in his rookie season, though he is competing with sophomore Spencer Rattler. After a long college football career full of adversity, Shough is ready for the growing pains and downs of his first year in the NFL. "I think for me and what I've been through: I've been carted off the field, I've been booed, I've been an MVP, I've been a starter, I've been a backup to [Justin] Herbert," Shough said. "You're not going to faze me if we start off 0-2 or I suck. It's going to be fine." The former Oregon Duck, Texas Tech Red Raider, and Louisville Cardinal acknowledge that while he's an older first-year player, he's still a rookie who will have to learn. Even if Shough pans out, he likely won't be a fantasy football contributor in single-QB leagues this season since he does not have much of a rushing skill set. That said, he could be a QB2 sleeper for Superflex and two-QB leagues while throwing passes to Chris Olave, Rashid Shaheed, Alvin Kamara, Juwan Johnson, and Marquez Valdes-Scantling.