The Los Angeles Rams are about to wrap up their first week of training camp, but their starting quarterback, Matthew Stafford, has yet to participate.
At the start of camp, head coach Sean McVay told reporters that Stafford was dealing with back soreness and would miss the first five practices, leading all to believe that the signal caller would be back on the field in Week 2.
Now that does not appear to be the case.
After Saturday’s practice, McVay updated reporters that Stafford would not participate in Monday’s practice, and that the team would take his timeline a week at a time.
Sean McVay said QB Matthew Stafford (back soreness) will not return to practice on Monday as anticipated. McVay said the Rams will take it a week at a time with Stafford but that the QB did not experience a setback. McVay said the goal remains to have Stafford back for Week 1.
— Sarah Barshop (@sarahbarshop) July 26, 2025
Los Angeles Rams Quarterback Matthew Stafford Remains Out With Back Soreness
McVay went on to say that the 37-year-old quarterback did not experience any kind of setback, but rather that he mispoke and should not have put a timeline on the situation.
The goal remains for Matthew Stafford to be 100% for Week 1 of the regular season.
For as great a coach as Sean McVay is, his poker face when it comes to detailing injuries is not one of his better attributes. There always seems to be more writing on the wall than he leads on to believe.
Is this one of those situations? It’s hard to tell.
History tells us that McVay, and many coaches for that matter, will downplay the severity of injuries and try to keep as much as possible in-house. We saw this play out in real time just a few years ago when Stafford was dealing with a mysterious elbow injury.
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Now, in this instance, I am more of the belief that there really is nothing to worry about, as the team is just taking it extra slow. Stafford has been in this system plenty long, and has been through numerous training camps where he can kind of coast along till Week 1 anyway.
However, there are new weapons on the team, a la Davante Adams and Terrance Ferguson. Chemistry with new receiving options isn’t just created out of thin air. It requires reps in camp and in practice to build up that timing and trust.
That is the one piece of this to monitor. I would not be overly concerned about Matthew Stafford’s back soreness, but I am slightly anxious about the chemistry being built before the regular season starts.
We will have plenty of updates on this situation as LAFB will be at Los Angeles Rams camp all month long.