Matthew Stafford

John Matthew Stafford (born February 7, 1988) is an American professional football quarterback for the Los Angeles Rams of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Georgia Bulldogs, receiving first-team All-American honors in 2008, and was selected first overall by the Detroit Lions in the 2009 NFL draft. Ranking in the top 10 of all time in pass attempts, pass completions, passing yards, and passing touchdowns, Stafford is currently sixth all time in passing yards per game and the fastest player in NFL history to have reached 40,000 career passing yards.

As the Lions' primary starter from 2009 to 2020, Stafford had a breakout year in 2011 when he became the fourth quarterback in NFL history to throw for more than 5,000 yards in a single season, while also leading Detroit to their first playoff appearance since 1999. He helped the Lions reach the playoffs two more times in 2014 and 2016, earning Pro Bowl honors during the former and setting the NFL season record for comeback wins in the latter. After mutually agreeing to part ways with the Lions, Stafford was traded to the Rams in 2021 and led them to victory in Super Bowl LVI. In 2025, Stafford led the league in passing yards and touchdowns for the first time in his career, earning him NFL Most Valuable Player (MVP) honors.

Early life

Stafford was born on February 7, 1988, in Tampa, Florida, to John and Margaret Stafford. He lived in Dunwoody, Georgia, while John attended graduate school at the University of Georgia. Stafford has an older sister named Page. His family then moved to Dallas, Texas, and Stafford attended Highland Park High School with Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw. He was coached by Randy Allen and was widely considered to be one of the best high school quarterbacks in the United States in the class of 2006, ranked ahead of Tim Tebow.

In 2005, Stafford led his team to a perfect 15–0 record and won the UIL 4A Division I State Championship. During the playoff run, Stafford beat Ryan Mallett's Texarkana Texas 38–31, as well as Jevan Snead's Stephenville 41–38. Stafford had over 4,000 yards passing despite not playing in the first three games of the season due to a knee injury. Stafford received numerous accolades, including being named to the Parade All-America Team and the USA Today Pre-Season Super 25 in 2005. He also won the MVP and Best Arm awards at the 2005 EA Sports Elite 11 Quarterback Camp and was named the 2005 EA Sports National Player of the Year. Regarded as a five-star recruit by Rivals.com, Stafford was listed as the No. 1 pro-style quarterback prospect in the class of 2006 by Rivals.com.

Before he had even started a game at the collegiate level, analyst Mel Kiper Jr. predicted, correctly, that Stafford would eventually be the first pick in the NFL draft.

College career

2006 season

Stafford graduated early from high school and enrolled at the University of Georgia in January, where he became the first true freshman quarterback to start for the Georgia Bulldogs football team since Quincy Carter in 1998, and first out of high school to start since Eric Zeier in 1991. Stafford wore number 7 at Georgia. He completed five of 12 passes for 102 yards and a touchdown in a Georgia spring game.

Stafford debuted late in the season opener of the 2006 season against Western Kentucky and went 3 of 5 passing for 40 yards and a touchdown pass in the 48–12 victory. During the season's second game, against South Carolina, starting quarterback Joe Tereshinski III was injured, forcing Stafford to come off the bench. Although he completed just 8 of 19 passes for 171 yards and three interceptions, Georgia won the game, 18–0. Against University of Alabama Birmingham the following week, Stafford made his first collegiate start. Georgia won, 34–0. Victories over Colorado and Ole Miss improved Georgia's record to 5–0, but the heart of the conference schedule loomed.

The rest of the season was inconsistent for Stafford and the Bulldogs. Following home losses to both Tennessee and Vanderbilt, head coach Mark Richt named Stafford the starter for the rest of the season ahead of Tereshinski. Stafford completed 20 of 32 passes for 267 yards and two touchdowns in a 27–24 win over Mississippi State, and was named the Southeastern Conference (SEC) Freshman of the Week for his efforts. Statistically, he had his best game of the season against the No. 5 Auburn Tigers. Stafford finished the game 14 of 20 for 219 yards and a touchdown, and added 83 rushing yards and a touchdown on seven carries in Georgia's 37–15 upset victory. The following week, Stafford led the Bulldogs on a 12-play, 64-yard drive and threw a late game-winning touchdown pass to Mohamed Massaquoi in Georgia's 15–12 victory over No. 16 Georgia Tech.

Stafford completed his freshman season by leading Georgia to a 31–24 come-from-behind victory over Virginia Tech in the Chick-fil-A Bowl, after the Bulldogs trailed 21–3 at halftime. Stafford threw for 129 yards and a second half touchdown to spark the comeback and allow Georgia to finish the season with a 9–4 record. Stafford finished with 1,749 passing yards, seven touchdowns, and 13 interceptions.

2007 season

Stafford threw for 234 yards and two touchdowns as the Bulldogs defeated the Oklahoma State Cowboys 35–14 in the season opener. Following a 16–12 loss to South Carolina and a 45–16 victory over Western Carolina, the Bulldogs avoided an 0–2 start in SEC play by escaping Bryant–Denny Stadium with an overtime win over Alabama. Stafford connected with senior wide receiver Mikey Henderson on the Bulldogs' first play from scrimmage in overtime for the winning score. Following the Alabama game, Georgia won two of their next three. In the win over No. 9 Florida, he completed 11 of 18 passes for 217 yards and three touchdowns, including a career-long touchdown pass of 84 yards to Mohamed Massaquoi and a 53-yard touchdown pass to Henderson. Georgia closed out the regular season on a six-game winning streak. The wins over Florida, Auburn, and Georgia Tech marked the first time that Georgia had defeated all three rivals in the same season since 1982.

Stafford had 175 yards passing and a touchdown pass during Georgia's 41–10 rout of the No. 10 Hawaii Warriors in the 2008 Sugar Bowl. He completed 194 of 348 passes for 2,523 yards (194.1/game) and 19 touchdowns as well as two rushing touchdowns for the season. He finished fifth in the SEC in pass completions and sixth in passing touchdowns. Stafford helped lead Georgia to an 11–2 record, their best mark since the 2002 season, and a No. 2 ranking in the Final AP Poll.

2008 season

Stafford was chosen to Athlon Sports' preseason Heisman Favorites Others To Watch list. Georgia was ranked No. 1 in both the preseason coaches poll and the AP Poll, marking the first time Georgia has ever been No. 1 in the preseason version of either poll. The team entered the 2008 season with the longest active winning streak among the 66 BCS conference teams, having won its last seven games of the 2007 season. He helped lead them to victories in their first four games to move the winning streak to 11. Stafford and the Bulldogs suffered their first setback in a 41–30 loss to No. 8 Alabama on September 27. Stafford rebounded by helping lead the team to victories in five of the next six games, the lone exception being a 49–10 loss to the eventual National Champion Florida Gators. In that stretch, he threw for over 300 yards in victories over Tennessee and Kentucky. In the final regular season game against Georgia Tech, Stafford completed 24 out of 39 attempts for 407 yards and five touchdowns, setting personal collegiate highs for passing yards and touchdowns in a single game, albeit a 45–42 loss. Stafford finished the season with a conference-leading 235 pass completions for 3,459 passing yards, the second most in school history, and 25 touchdowns, the single-season record for passing touchdowns. He led the SEC in pass attempts and passing completions while finishing third for passing touchdowns. Georgia finished the regular season with a 9–3 mark and qualified for the Capitol One Bowl. After defeating Michigan State 24–12 and winning the MVP of the 2009 Capital One Bowl, Stafford finished his three years at Georgia with a 3–0 record in bowl games and a 6–3 record in rivalry games (1–2 against Florida, 3–0 against Auburn, and 2–1 against Georgia Tech). Stafford chose to forgo his senior season and entered the 2009 NFL draft.