NFL players don’t get paid quite as much as their kin in the NBA or MLB. But they’re compensated pretty handsomely. Especially if you play quarterback and start for your team, then you’re laughing, financially speaking. Los Angeles Rams QB Matthew Stafford is one of those well-paid signal callers, and he ensured his financial security again during the 2025 offseason.
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Stafford, who didn’t have much time left on his contract, wanted a restructure that would provide him with more guaranteed money over the next year or two. After much posturing, he got just that. He will be making (an estimated) $27 million in cash in 2025 and $31 million in 2026 on a restructured deal. Safe to say, he and his family are well off. But Matthew’s wife, Kelly, doesn’t want that to define her children.
Kelly and Matthew have four young daughters. Naturally, the power couple wants to give their offspring anything they need. But Kelly has made it a point to teach them just how fortunate they are. Most children don’t have the luxuries the Stafford girls enjoy, and Kelly wants them to understand that.
“It’s important that kids know how blessed they are. Explaining it to them isn’t always the easiest, but if you can find ways to show them, sometimes it sticks a little better,” said Kelly on an episode of The Morning After.
“Whenever we have an opportunity to give back and it is something that we can take the kids to, we do… Kids are visual. Sometimes you have to show them,” she added.
Kelly also talked about how she makes sure to get her children involved whenever she’s doing any charitable giving. This allows the foursome—twins Sawyer and Chandler, 8, Hunter, 6, and Tyler, 4 (I wonder if Matt wanted some boys with those names)—to participate in acts of empathy and understand that different children face different and often much more difficult obstacles than they do.
“When we sponsor families for Christmas, they come with me, they pick out the toys for the kids, they help deliver. I want them to be aware that people struggle in this world for the littlest things… And they don’t struggle at all. So, it’s hard though. But I do think kids are visual, so the more you can show them rather than tell them, the better.”
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While Kelly is making sure those kids are raised to become empathic, upstanding citizens, Matthew is out to prove he still has a little bit left in the tank, athletically speaking. He will be chasing his second Super Bowl ring in five years as his Los Angeles Rams reload in 2025 after a couple of down seasons.
The 37-year-old has been a steady presence as the Rams navigate a soft rebuild without sacrificing their competitiveness. Stafford’s role is crucial in that regard. But it won’t be long before he’s back home with Kelly and the brood full-time. His new deal runs through the 2026 season, at which point he’ll be 39.
