Jimmy Garoppolo considering retirement, but the Rams hope he'll return as Matthew Stafford's backup

The 34-year-old Garoppolo has been Stafford's backup for the past two seasons after spending the previous decade in New England, San Francisco — where he led the 49ers to a Super Bowl appearance and two NFC title games — and Las Vegas.

Garoppolo has played only 84 snaps for the Rams, with 66 of those in the 2024-25 regular-season finale when Stafford rested. Garoppolo hasn't yet landed with another team to compete for a starting job, Snead acknowledged the quarterback is considering all of his options.

“Jimmy has always been priority No. 1 for the backup, so we’re letting him go through his process,” Snead said while speaking about the upcoming NFL draft, in which the Rams hold the 13th overall pick. “And then from there, we go to the next steps.”

Coach Sean McVay has repeatedly said over the past two years that Garoppolo should be an NFL starter, which means the Rams have always had ideas on how to proceed if Garoppolo left.

“Wanted to be able to give him his time," McVay said. "He knows that he's a really important part of what we want to do. Hopeful that the contemplation is (just) that, and that when the time is right, he'll change his mind."

McVay says the Rams have faith in third-string quarterback Stetson Bennett, the two-time national champion at Georgia who was drafted by Los Angeles in the fourth round in 2023. Bennett missed his rookie season to focus on his mental health, and he has yet to take an NFL snap in the regular season — but he has played extensively in the preseason, and he worked behind Garoppolo as the Rams' second-string quarterback while Stafford missed most of training camp last season with a back injury.

“He's improved tremendously,” McVay said of Bennett. “He's obviously done really well in the preseason games and in some of those crunch-time moments that have led to guys winning football games. But you leave the door open (for Garoppolo). I don't think you want to press. I think what you don't want to do is ever force a guy to play if, in his mind, he's ready to move on. But you don't want to minimize that if you do decide to play, let's make sure it's here with us. We have two years of a good relationship. So (retirement talk) isn't necessarily something that's new news to us. We want to give him his time, and he knows where we stand on that.”

Garoppolo hasn't played much because Stafford has been healthy enough to start all but one game over the past three seasons, and Snead confirmed the Rams are finishing up a restructuring of the veteran quarterback's contract for a third straight offseason. Stafford already squashed any retirement contemplation by announcing he would return to Los Angeles while he accepted the MVP trophy in February, and his current contract runs through 2026.

“Progress has been made,” Snead said. “No timeline, but don't expect any drama per se.”

McVay also said Puka Nacua will be a full participant in the Rams' offseason program after his recent stint in a holistic rehab center to address his erratic behavior in recent months. Nacua was spotted with his teammates when the Rams reported Monday for the start of their offseason work.

“It was great to see him,” McVay said. “He's doing really well. ... He and I have a great relationship and feel really good about kind of the direction we're going.”

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