This Steelers trade package could land them Matthew Stafford and Cooper Kupp

The Los Angeles Rams are on the verge of a complete teardown.

After back-to-back 10 win seasons, there is a mounting sense of stagnation in LA. Sean McVay is a great coach, and Matthew Stafford is a great quarterback, but what exactly are the Rams building toward? After selling out for that Super Bowl in 2022, the Rams are an older team with limited draft capital. It could behoove them to start trading key vets and pivoting toward the future.

Cooper Kupp has already announced his trade availability on social media. The veteran wideout is clearly unhappy with the Rams' decision, but as injuries stack up for the 31-year-old, Los Angeles is understandably looking to get out from under his contract. If the Rams are willing to trade Kupp against his will, then there's not much keeping Matthew Stafford off the market.

That is where the Pittsburgh Steelers come into play. Very few competitive teams have more blatant needs at both quarterback and wide receiver. Say what you will about Mike Tomlin, but his teams are always in the playoffs. With the right collection of talent, perhaps the Steelers can start winning in the playoffs, too.

Pittsburgh has very little money allocated to the QB and WR positions, so the concept of trading for both Stafford and Kupp is... actually, pretty reasonable. Most teams would scoff at the idea of taking on so much salary in the form of two past-prime vets, but the Steelers love their established stars, and Pittsburgh can — on paper — afford a trade such as this.

Here's how it might look.

This Steelers-Rams trade would keep Matthew Stafford and Cooper Kupp together on a contender

This is a rather complicated trade. It's not often that two expensive veterans are packaged together. Kupp, coming off his least productive campaign since an injury-ravaged sophomore season in 2018, carries a cap hit of $29.8 million in 2025. Stafford's sits at $49.7 million. He is 36 years old. That is a lot of dough for two players decidedly on the downswing of their careers.

The Steelers don't need to sacrifice their first-round pick as a result. That said, Stafford and Kupp remain very effective when healthy and available, and the Rams can't cut their entire offense for a nothingburger return. Mike DeFabo of The Athletic suggests that Los Angeles might get a fourth-round pick from Pittsburgh in a hypothetical Kupp trade. Since we're throwing in a top-15ish quarterback with a few seasons left in the tank, a second and third-round pick feels like fair value. This trade does raise Pittsburgh's immediate ceiling quite a bit.

Stafford is getting up there in years, but he still throws one of the most beautiful spirals in football. His ability to change arm slots, read a defense at light speed, and deliver challenging throws with feather-soft touch is special. He's one of the sharpest football minds of his generation and there's a reason wideouts the league over want to play with him.

The Steelers would be giving Stafford a nice collection of targets with Kupp, George Pickens, and Pat Freiermuth, among other potential offseason upgrades. For Kupp, it's a chance to keep a good thing going next to Stafford, who has never hesitated to feed the former Super Bowl MVP. Pickens might not love the volume of targets Kupp soaks up, but the first time Stafford hits Pickens in stride on a lightning bolt up the sideline, the young wideout's attitude might change.

We should all be very skeptical of the Arthur Smith offense in Pittsburgh. He basically put Russell Wilson in a straightjacket down the stretch, and the Steelers lost five straight because of it. Stafford is a QB who demands some sort of control over the offense. He needs to be able to read a defense and improvise at the line of scrimmage. He also needs the freedom to air it out a bit.

Smith is not the ideal coordinator in that sense, but perhaps Stafford commands a bit more respect and deference in 2025 than Russell Wilson did coming off that rotten Broncos tenure. In terms of pure talent and upside, however, there should be no concerns about the immediate benefits of adding Stafford and Kupp, even if the long-term outlook is a bit shaky.