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Matthew Stafford and wife Kelly Stafford appear on the red carpet.
Matthew Stafford earned the top individual honor in the NFL, but it was the former Detroit Lions quarterback’s wife and daughters who stole the spotlight before the NFL Honors on Thursday.
Stafford was named the league’s MVP, beating out New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye in a close race. It is the first career MVP for the Los Angeles Rams signal-caller, who had a late-career resurgence after the blockbuster trade that sent him from Detroit to Los Angeles in 2021.
Before Thursday’s award ceremony, Matthew Stafford made waves on the red carpet with wife Kelly and their four daughters. They later joined him on stage to celebrate the honor.
Stafford Girls Steal the Show
The Rams quarterback walked the red carpet with the five women in his life, with Kelly and their four daughters all wearing black dresses to match his all-black tuxedo.
Some speculated that Stafford brought the entire family because he had some inside information about winning the MVP award.
“Yeah, he winning MVP. He got the call before hand,” joked former NFL player turned commentator Emmanuel Acho in a comment on the league’s Instagram post of the family.
Video of the Stafford family attracted some viral attention, with many sharing praise for the family.
“How can you not be emotional seeing Matthew Stafford on stage with all 4 of his daughters,” one fan shared in a post on X.
Kelly Stafford, Girls are Matthew’s Biggest Cheerleaders
Kelly Stafford has gotten plenty of attention herself, hosting a popular podcast and often talking about the stresses of raising a young family while her husband plays in the NFL. She revealed last year that she and the girls traveled to take on the Minnesota Vikings in the playoffs despite a nasty illness moving through the family.
“There was a huge guilt factor to me going, ‘Should we be on this plane right now because of everyone surrounding us and everyone who has to play this game?’ ” Kelly Stafford said on her podcast, The Morning After.
Kelly Stafford said other Rams family members encouraged them to travel to the game, and added that her girls were true fans despite the rough illness.
“This girl,” Kelly Stafford said of her daughter. “In the middle of her pukes in the bathroom, ‘Mommy, are we still winning?’ ”
While she admitted that it can be difficult sometimes, Kelly Stafford said her husband always keeps the family together.
“Matthew is such a calming force in my life,” she told E! News. “I am very high strung. I feel like I have a lot of stress that I carry, and he just settles me.”
Kelly Stafford added that her husband’s selfless attitude is what makes everything work.
“He’s such an incredible man in so many ways,” she added. “I feel like people think he’s perfect, he’s not perfect. But he always puts my daughters and myself first. If we all asked him to retire, he would do it. He shows up for me, but he shows, most importantly, my daughters what they should aspire to be with when they’re older.”
Nathan Dougherty is a sports reporter covering the NFL for Heavy.com, with a focus on the Buffalo Bills, Detroit Lions and Miami Dolphins. Previously he wrote for the Rochester Business Journal and served as the assistant editor of athletic trade magazines Coaching Management, Athletic Management and Training & Conditioning. He is based out of Rochester, New York, and loves everything football. More about Nathan Dougherty
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