NFL 2022: Ranking the top 43 quarterbacks in the league

No. 8 NFL quarterback in 2022: Matthew Stafford, Los Angeles Rams

It was a glorious year in 2021 for Matthew Stafford.

The Lions were getting ready to take on a total rebuild, and for a variety of reasons, they agreed to trade Stafford and part ways with their former top draft choice.

Stafford has led the Lions into relevance, but it really felt from the outside looking in that there was a ceiling on how far Stafford could take the franchise. Perhaps everyone agreed he’d already taken them as far as he could with what he was given.

General manager Brad Holmes gave his buddies with the Rams a serious discount to acquire Stafford and everybody knows how the story ended.

The Rams won the Super Bowl and Stafford went from arguably one of the NFL’s most cursed franchises to being on the stage hoisting the Lombardi overnight.

They say you can’t microwave success, and that’s not really what the Rams did, but kind of.

Stafford was the missing piece. He was a perfect fit in Sean McVay’s offense.

He instantly legitimized every opinion that many NFL fans held of Stafford, which was that he could shine as the elite quarterback he truly was if he could get out of Detroit.

It happened.

Heading into the 2022 season, Stafford should be expected now to be even better.