Stafford or Adams? CBS Sports chooses one as Rams' top Hall of Fame candidate
Matthew Stafford's three TDs and game-winning drive gave him the @RocketMortgage #CompetitiveEdge in Super Bowl LVI. pic.twitter.com/ZAd67vjGHh
This weekend, Canton welcomes four new members to the 2025 Pro Football Hall of Fame. Eric Allen, Antonio Gates, Jared Allen, and Sterling Sharpe are the latest of NFL greats to be enshrined.
While these four individuals celebrate the highest honor of professional football, it's never too early to look at the inductees of the future. CBS Sports' Bryan DeArdo named the most likely future Hall of Famers from every NFL team, featuring players on present-day rosters. For some teams, it may stir up a debate about who could one day be Canton-bound, but for the Los Angeles Rams, two obvious names come to mind: wide receiver Davante Adams and quarterback Matthew Stafford.
DeArdo picked Stafford because of his ring and the fact that he could join the club of QBs with 400 touchdown passes as early as this season.
Davante Adams has had the better career from an accolades standpoint, but Stafford has the edge considering he has a Super Bowl ring and is on the precipice of becoming the 10th QB in history to throw for over 60,000 yards. He's also just 23 touchdown passes away from becoming the ninth member of the 400 TD pass club.
Stafford, entering his 17th season and fifth with the Rams, has passed for 59,809 yards, 377 touchdowns and has a 91.2 career passer rating. Heading into the 2025 season, the former No. 1 overall pick from 2009 needs just 1,553 passing yards to surpass Hall of Famer Dan Marino for ninth all-time in passing yards and 2,984 yards to surpass former league MVP Matt Ryan for eighth most. Additionally, Stafford, who surpassed former Giants QB Eli Manning to move into the top 10 in touchdown passes last season, needs just five more to move ahead of Ryan and is just 104 more completions away from moving ahead of former Chargers QB Philip Rivers for eighth-most all-time.
During his career, Stafford has been selected to the Pro Bowl twice, in 2014 and 2023. He was named NFL Comeback Player of the Year in 2011, a year in which he threw for a career-high 5,038 yards and 41 touchdowns, helping lead the Lions to their first playoff berth of the 21st century. He ranks fifth all-time in career game-winning drives with 49, and tied fourth all-time in career fourth-quarter comebacks with 38.
Above all, in his first season with the Rams, Stafford led the franchise to its second Super Bowl title in 2021 and first in Los Angeles following a 23-20 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals, which featured Stafford leading a game-winning 15-play, 79-yard drive that culminated in the game-winning touchdown to WR Cooper Kupp.
While Stafford has undoubtedly built a Hall of Fame resume, the case can be made for why Adams should have been the selection. Both players have Hall of Fame-caliber numbers, but Adams has the edge in career accolades, despite Stafford having earned a Super Bowl title. Adams ranks 10th all-time with 103 touchdowns and needs just 43 receptions for 1,000 career catches. Through 11 seasons, the former 2014 second-round pick has been named a first-team All-Pro three times, a Pro Bowler six times, and has twice led the league in receiving touchdowns (2020 and 2022).
Regardless of how both players are viewed, Stafford and Adams will find their way to Canton long after their careers have concluded.
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