The Rams won the NFC West after a miserable start to the season.
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The Los Angeles Rams trailed the Philadelphia Eagles by six points, with the ball at the 13-yard line in the final two minutes of a divisional-round playoff game last postseason. The Eagles beat the brakes off their other three playoff opponents on the way to a Super Bowl championship. In that moment, the Rams had a good shot to win and stop Philadelphia's title run.
The Rams' comeback fell short, but imagining them in that position was next to impossible a few months earlier.
L.A. went into its bye with a 1-4 record. It reportedly entertained the idea of trading Cooper Kupp before the deadline, and while trading Matthew Stafford never seemed realistic, the fact that it was rumored to be a possibility spoke to where the Rams found themselves. The idea of being one key play from advancing to and hosting the NFC championship game was laughable in mid-October.
The NFL can change fast, often for the worse and sometimes for the better. Over the past three months of the season, the Rams went from probable trade deadline seller to a contender, and set themselves up to feel good about 2025 as well.
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The Rams' young defense continued to improve after a rough start. The offense grew after Puka Nacua and Kupp rebounded from early-season injuries. Close wins started to pile up, and the Rams gained confidence. The 49ers' startling season-long collapse didn't hurt either. Los Angeles won the division, beat a 14-3 Minnesota Vikings team in the wild-card round even though it had to play at a neutral site instead of at home due to fires in Southern California, and gave a fantastic Eagles team its only challenge of the postseason.
It was all a reminder that Sean McVay is one of the best head coaches in the NFL. Taking a team that started 1-4 to the second round of the playoffs isn't an easy task.
"You guys hear me say the word gratitude, but just appreciation," McVay said after the season, via SI.com. "The journey was hard, but it was worth it. There was a lot of fulfillment.
"To come up short … it’s a cool reflection of the team to be in that position, but it's also really hard because it just seemed like a lot of things were going to maybe line up for us to be able to host an NFC championship."
Maybe this season the Rams go further. They suddenly have a fun, young defense, which made the transition after Aaron Donald's retirement a little easier. Stafford is at an age in which his play can deteriorate suddenly, but he was good again last season and has Nacua and new addition Davante Adams (who replaces the released Kupp) to work with. There is enough talent on both sides of the ball, and a top-five coach in McVay.
If last season showed anything, it's that the Rams will never be down for long if McVay is still around.
Offseason grade
Cooper Kupp is a franchise icon and in time, his career will be celebrated in Los Angeles. But Davante Adams is a better player now. Even though Adams is 32, his production is still very good. Cutting Kupp and signing Adams helps L.A.'s offense, probably by a significant amount. Defensive tackle Poona Ford adds size to a run defense that had some rough days last season. A major priority of the offseason was re-signing left tackle Alaric Jackson, and the team got that done with a three-year, $57 million deal. However, Jackson experiencing blood clots in his lower leg is a big concern. That's why the team signed veteran D.J. Humphries. The Rams also reunited with center Coleman Shelton in free agency. They didn't have a first-round pick, which isn't unusual. This time the Rams made a smart move to trade their first-round pick and a third-rounder to the Falcons for second- and seventh-round picks this year and a 2026 first-round pick. That's a good investment. The Rams' draft class itself ended up OK anyway. Tight end Terrance Ferguson (second round) could have an impact right away, defensive end Josaiah Stewart (third round) is another promising young piece on defense, fourth-round pick Jarquez Hunter is a name to watch at running back and linebacker Chris Paul Jr. provided good value as a fifth-round selection.
Grade: B-
Quarterback report
Matthew Stafford turned 37 years old in February. While it's not worth running down the history of 37-year-old quarterbacks, it's an age when many start to fall off. Just because Tom Brady played well until age 45 doesn't mean anyone else will. But Stafford hasn't recently shown any major signs of decline. Stafford had a typical season for him, with 3,762 yards, 20 touchdowns, eight interceptions and a 93.7 passer rating. His numbers have held steady at that level for three seasons, and he should have a similar 2025 season. Having Puka Nacua and Davante Adams to throw to will help. There were questions about whether Stafford would return to the Rams this season, but he got a two-year, $84 million deal. That made all sides happy. Unless Stafford hits the age cliff this season, he should remain one of the NFC's best quarterbacks.
BetMGM odds breakdown
From Yahoo’s Ben Fawkes: “Matthew Stafford is back at QB after some offseason trade rumors, and that alone makes Los Angeles a contender. The Rams are a hefty favorite (-180) to make the postseason at BetMGM. Oddsmakers have it as a two-team race in the NFC West, as Los Angeles has the second-best odds (+185), right behind the 49ers at +160. Los Angeles is favored in 13 games and has to travel only once to the East Coast between Weeks 4 and 13. With the infrastructure of Sean McVay and Stafford, I’d wager on the Rams making another trip to the playoffs."
Yahoo’s fantasy take
From Yahoo’s Scott Pianowski: "It's important to recognize when a fantasy candidate has more or less real-life value than fantasy value; you need to mind that gap. Puka Nacua could be one of those guys, perhaps more valuable in the real world.
"The Rams haven't unlocked Nacua as a touchdown scorer (just 10 in 31 career games, including the playoffs), and they had little success with Nacua around the goal last year. And now Davante Adams joins the offense, a player put on the Earth to score touchdowns. Nacua also has more injury risk than the average player — he missed six games last year, and all four of his college seasons were injury-riddled. I understand the upside of Nacua — if healthy, he has a fair chance to lead the league in receptions. But he's currently commanding a Top 10 pick in Yahoo leagues, and I won't sign off on that."
Stat to remember
The Rams nailed their 2024 first-round pick of outside linebacker Jared Verse. As a rookie, Verse led the NFL with 66 quarterback hurries via Pro Football Focus. That was four more than any other player. It was 10 more than Myles Garrett, 22 more than Micah Parsons and 38 more than T.J. Watt. Verse won NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year.
The next step for Verse is turning more of those hurries into sacks. Verse had just 4.5 sacks last season. He was disappointed in that number. It wouldn't be a surprise to see his sack total double or maybe even triple in his second season.
"The biggest thing I realized was how many sacks — and not even just sacks but big plays — I missed out on," Verse said, via the team's site. "Dropping in coverage, I could have done this; or rushing the pass, I could have done that. Even in the run game a couple of times, there were things where I'm a little too far inside, I'm a little too far outside, and I could have made a big impact play. So realizing that this really is a game of inches — whether it's just stopping the ball or actually just doing your job — there's a couple of things I could've done better."
Burning question
Can Kyren Williams continue to produce?
When the Rams drafted Blake Corum last year, they indicated that Williams' workload would be lessened. That didn't happen. Williams had over five times as many carries as Corum (316 to 58). No other Rams back had more than 20 carries. In an era of running back committees, Williams is a throwback. Sean McVay clearly trusts Williams, who is productive without being explosive. Williams had just two 20-yard runs last season, tied for the fewest in the NFL among backs with more than 801 yards (Rico Dowdle was the other). He didn't have a single 40-yard run. Yet Williams averaged a reasonable 4.1 yards per carry. The Rams know what they're getting when they hand Williams the ball. This year Los Angeles drafted Jarquez Hunter, using a valuable fourth-round pick on him after spending a third-round selection on Corum last year. That indicates the Rams would like to have more flavors in their backfield than just Williams. We'll see if that happens, or McVay reverts to overloading his reliable starter.
Best-case scenario
Los Angeles' offense will likely be good again. Davante Adams could make it even better than last season. But the Rams' biggest growth potential is on defense. The Rams were really young there last season. Defensive linemen Kobie Turner and Braden Fiske; outside linebackers Byron Young and Jared Verse; inside linebacker Omar Speights; and defensive backs Kamren Kinchens, Quentin Lake and Kam Curl are all under 27 years old. The Rams gave up 314 rushing yards to the Eagles in Week 12, but after that their defense ranked 10th in EPA (expected points added) allowed per play, including the postseason. It was sixth in EPA allowed against the pass after Week 12. There are still questions about the run defense and the cornerback position, but it's reasonable to believe a very young defense improves after last season's strong finish. If L.A.'s defense grows and Matthew Stafford remains at his level, the Rams could win the NFC West again. And as we saw last postseason, they could be a very tough out.
Nightmare scenario
It's natural to focus on the Rams' surge after their bye, and ignore the 1-4 start. But that bad start happened too. The Rams also allowed Saquon Barkley to rush for an Eagles record 255 yards in a Week 12 game, were 26th in yards per rush allowed, yielded 29 passing touchdowns to tie for the fifth most in the NFL and were 31st in yards per rush. A lot of offseason focus has been on the Rams being close to beating Philadelphia in the playoffs, but they also trailed 28-15 with less than five minutes remaining before a late rally. Maybe that game wasn't as close as we like to remember, and perhaps we're choosing to ignore some of the Rams' holes going into this season. They won eight games by seven or fewer points, and that's hard to replicate. They had a point differential of -19. Many advanced stats had the Rams being about in the middle of the NFL last season. For many NFL teams near the middle, the difference between being celebrated and ignored is catching a few timely breaks to turn 50-50 outcomes in their favor. If the breaks don't go the Rams' way this season, they might be nowhere near another NFC West title.
The crystal ball says
Sean McVay is a bankable asset. He will always get the most out of his roster. Even though there are some reasons to believe the Rams might regress, I'm willing to give McVay the benefit of the doubt and believe he can guide a quickly developing defense and a strong offensive core to another winning record. The 49ers and Rams are back-to-back in these rankings, and not much separates them. As stated in the 49ers' preview, the NFC West race could come down to Week 18 (unfortunately the final meeting between the Rams and 49ers comes in Week 10). I'll give the Rams a very slight edge in the division for now, but it feels like a 50/50 proposition.
Category: General Sports
