The NFL season is a gauntlet. With 17 games now making up the regular-season schedule, plus five weeks of playoffs, the season takes up about six months of the year. You would think that the other six months would be much more relaxing. As Matthew Stafford\u2019s wife, Kelly, has learned, that\u2019s not really the case.<\/p>\n
There are a few pockets of freedom for NFL players during the spring and early summer. But once they get to late July, it\u2019s basically like the season has started for them, if it hasn\u2019t for the fans. Training camp runs for a couple of weeks from late July to early August, and during that time, players are absolutely locked in.<\/p>\n
So locked in, in fact, that some choose to leave their phones at home or in the car. While that helps with dialing in on film and practice, it can be frustrating for the families of those players. Kelly Stafford, who\u2019s been married to Matthew Stafford for 10 years and has four daughters with him, can\u2019t even get a call back while her husband is at training camp.<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember his rookie year, I didn\u2019t understand it. I was like, \u2018What do you mean you can\u2019t talk to me the whole day, until you\u2019re done, like where\u2019s your phone?\u2019 And he was like, \u2018I leave it in my car, I don\u2019t need it, I\u2019m there to work, this is my job.\u2019 That mentality still exists with him. Once he steps foot on that property for training camp, he\u2019s dialed in,\u201d Kelly said<\/a> (via her YouTube channel).<\/p>\n And Kelly says, despite this being Matthew Stafford\u2019s 17th training camp in the NFL, he\u2019s still just as focused as he was back in 2009 as a rookie. He was locked in this year from July 24 to August 3 at Loyola Marymount University, where the Los Angeles Rams<\/a> have held training camp for the past two years.<\/p>\n Kelly did, however, reveal that while Stafford is generally incommunicado during training camp, there are ways to contact him. They share four daughters after all. So there are some people in the building who have their phones that Kelly can contact if there\u2019s an emergency. But other than that, she thinks it\u2019s good that her husband can completely detach for a few hours to focus on his work.<\/p>\n \u201cOther than that, I really can\u2019t reach him. Which, I think is great, and honestly really important to be able to be there and be in. There are some times where I\u2019m like, \u2018F*cker, just answer your phone,’\u201d Mrs. Stafford said, laughing. \u201cAnd even with what has been going on with this last training camp, he was still very dialed in.\u201d<\/p>\n When Kelly says, \u201cWhat has been going on with this last training camp,\u201d she\u2019s referring to her husband\u2019s problematic back. Stafford has dealt with back issues for years, and it was a major reason the Rams struggled during their Super Bowl defense in 2022.<\/p>\n He received a cortisone injection in August as he is once again dealing with a disc issue. The 37-year-old QB did not participate in training camp at all. Head coach Sean McVay said in mid-August that the issue was \u201ca little bit of both\u201d pain tolerance and lack of function. Not ideal.<\/p>\n