Stephen A. Smith explains how Matthew Stafford could be an all-time QB

Matthew Stafford is reaching rarefied air in his 17th NFL season. He's breaking all sorts of records in 2025, leads the NFL in passing touchdowns, is the favorite to win MVP and powered the Los Angeles Rams to an NFC-leading 9-2 record heading into Week 13.

Legacies aren't built in the regular season, though. While Stafford has one Super Bowl win with L.A., another one could define his career and put him among the all-time greats.

At least, that's what ESPN's Stephen A. Smith said on a recent episode of "First Take." He noted that while everyone knows how good Stafford is on the field, a second Super Bowl championship would move Stafford further up the pantheon of the best quarterbacks of all-time.

"First of all, it's not just going to cement him as a champion as a Hall-of-Famer," Smith said, "he's going to go down as one of the greatest quarterbacks we've ever seen."

Smith has praised Stafford before—calling the Rams quarterback his pick for 2025 NFL MVP. But one of the greatest of all-time? That's even higher praise.

But the stats could back it up. Stafford is ninth in all-time passing yards and passing touchdowns, with a chance to move to No. 8 in both categories by season's end. That, coupled with some great playoff records recently, brings him closer to some of the best quarterbacks of all time.

Will he have the same number of championships as Tom Brady, Patrick Mahomes or John Elway? Maybe not by the end of his career. But two rings is better than one, and Stafford is already trending toward Hall-of-Fame status before his career is even over.

This article originally appeared on Rams Wire: Stephen A. Smith explains how Matthew Stafford could be an all-time QB