For years now, fans watching Matthew Stafford have noticed a small but consistent accessory on his left wrist, a plain rubber band. It’s not flashy jewellery like most WRs wear, or a high-tech fitness tracker like Patrick Mahomes sports, but a simple band that has quietly become part of his identity. And recently, thanks to his wife, Kelly Stafford, curious fans finally got a deeper explanation.
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In the latest edition of The Morning After podcast, Kelly sat down with the Los Angeles Rams quarterback and asked the question many have wondered: What’s the story behind the rubber band?
Matthew Stafford chuckled before admitting that the habit is decades old. “I think I started when I was like seven or eight years old,” he said, recalling old baseball pictures with his childhood friend Clayton Kersha, where the rubber band was already visible.
The 2x Pro Bowler then explained how he first got them from his mom’s office, where delivery men would drop off mail wrapped in thick rubber bands. “I’d grab three or four, put them in my backpack when I went home, and then I had them for a while,” he recalled.
While all this may look like a quirky superstition, like one that grants hidden superpowers, for Matthew Stafford, the rubber band simply “feels right.”
In fact, he has worn one for so long that going without feels unnatural, and he only replaces it when it gets loose. “I spent one offseason without one — like a week — and it felt so weird. I’d look down and just be like, okay…” he added.
Over the years, Matthew Stafford has even become particular about the size and type: not too thin, not too thick, and never colored, because the wrong fit “chokes your wrist.”
That said, the band has even had its dramatic moments.
The Ram QB particularly recalled one game against the San Francisco 49ers when his rubber band snapped after he was tackled by Deshawn Goldston.
“It tore and popped off, and luckily, my guys in Detroit, the equipment guys, knew they had a couple of spares on the sideline for me. So I ran over and put one on,” he said.
Once again, all this may sound trivial, but for Matthew Stafford, it was like restoring balance before getting back under centre.
As Matthew Stafford’s wife heard all this, she couldn’t help but tease him for turning 37 years old while still wearing a childhood habit.
Stafford, however, laughed off the quirk as he reiterated that to him, it’s just part of who he is — something he’s “locked and loaded” on, with plenty of extras stashed in his desk drawer. Because for Matthew Stafford, that simple rubber band is as much a part of his game-day uniform as his helmet and pads.
