Matthew Stafford's wife reveals stunning issue QB has with young Rams players

• NFL

Matthew Stafford's wife Kelly reveals her husband is having a hard time connecting with younger players on the Los Angeles Rams roster. In the 2023 NFL draft, the Rams made a league-high 14 selections. Stafford, 35, was traded to the Rams during the 2021 offseason.

After winning the Super Bowl in 2021 but then having a very disappointing 2022 season, the Rams completely changed their roster going into the 2023 season as they moved on from numerous veterans and focused on adding and developing young talent.

Stafford stayed with the Rams but the team around him is completely different compared to when he first arrived in 2021.

Stafford's wife Kelly: He feels he can't connect with them

"It's kind of crazy. So, Matthew's been in the league a long time.

He's like, 'The difference in the locker room has changed so significantly.' They have a lot of rookies on their team, they're very young. But he's like, 'I feel like I can't connect,'" Kelly said on "The Morning After With Kelly Stafford" podcast, via CBS Sports.

According to Kelly, young players prefer to spend time on the phone instead of interacting. "In the old days you'd come out of practice, you'd shower, and people would be playing cards, interacting. Who knows what they're doing, but they're doing something together.

Playing ping pong, they have a tournament going on. They'd at least be talking. But now they get out of practice, and meetings during training camp, and they go straight to their phones. No one looks up from their phone. Matthew's like, 'I don't know ...

am I the dad? Do I take their phones? What do I do here,'" Kelly said. "He's like, 'I want them to see me not as a coach,'" Kelly said. Also, Kelly suggested her husband doesn't want to be viewed as a father or anything like that by young Rams players. "They say 'sir' to him and stuff.

He's like, 'No, we're on the same level here, we're both playing in the league. Let me get to know you.' He said it's so different and so hard to get to know these guys," Kelly said.