Quarterback Matthew Stafford is the Los Angeles Rams’ nominee for the 2025 Art Rooney Sportsmanship Award.
This award was created in 2014 in honor of Pro Football Hall of Famer Art Rooney Sr., the late, great founding owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers. It is given every year to the NFL player who best demonstrates the qualities of on-field sportsmanship, including fair play, respect for the game and opponents and integrity in competition.
Each NFL team submits their nominee and from those 32 nominees, a panel of former players from the NFL legends community will choose eight finalists, four each from the NFC and AFC. This year that panel of four includes former Tampa Bay Buccaneers running back Warrick Dunn, former New York Jets running back and Hall of Famer Curtis Martin, former Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald and former Cincinnati Bengals defensive back Leonard Wheeler.
Once those eight finalists are decided, current players will vote on the winner in December as part of the Pro Bowl ballot. Each team will submit a consensus vote for their selection and a team can not vote its own player as the winner. The winner will be announced as part of the NFL Honors and will receive a $25,000 donation from the NFL Foundation to a charity of his choice.
The inaugural winner of this award was Larry Fitzgerald back in 2014 and other former winners include Charles Woodson, Adrian Peterson, Frank Gore and Drew Brees. Last season, Buffalo Bills star quarterback Josh Allen won the award.
Allen would also be named NFL MVP last season and Stafford could potentially pull off the same double-award win as he has been outstanding for the Rams this season. Voted as a team captain by his teammates for the fifth consecutive year, Stafford is enjoying a career-year at the age of 37.
Stafford is completing 66.5% of his passes so far this season while throwing for 2,830 yards and a league-leading 30 touchdowns with just two interceptions. The Rams star has gone eight consecutive games without throwing an interception and also leads the NFL in quarterback rating.
No member of the Rams has ever won the award with previous nominees including wide receiver Cooper Kupp, now with the Seattle Seahawks, and defensive back Jordan Fuller, now a member of the Atlanta Falcons.
Matthew Stafford appreciates MVP chants from Rams fans
As it currently stands, Matthew Stafford is the favorite to win the NFL MVP Award and the Rams fans certainly believe he is deserving as they showered him with MVP chants during their win over the Bucs. And the Rams quarterback appreciated the chants from the fans.
