Poona Ford may be the biggest difference maker new in 2025
The Los Angeles Rams were on the cusp away from hosting an NFC Championship last season. They hope the handful of tweaks they made this offseason will be enough to put them into Super Bowl considerations.
What is the move that will make the single-most difference from 2024 to 2025?
I’ll go with signing former Los Angeles Chargers defensive tackle Poona Ford, who further solidifies an already aggressive line.
Defensive lineman Poona Ford and the #Rams have agreed to terms on a three-year deal just under $30M with $17M guaranteed, per sources.
Ford experienced a career rebirth in 2024, gets rewarded. Agent @Murphy_McGuire of @OctagonFootball negotiated the deal. pic.twitter.com/EieDppRNH7
— Jeremy Fowler (@JFowlerESPN) March 10, 2025
The case for Ford
The Rams clearly needed a run stuffer in the interior of the defensive front. Braden Fiske is a standout pass rusher but he can be a liability in terms of slowing down the ground game. Ford will replace the role held by Neville Gallimore and Bobby Brown a year ago and is a marked improvement over those players.
Last season for the Chargers, Ford finished with a Pro Football Focus (PFF) run defense grade of 80.3. This was his second-best mark since his rookie season in 2018 with the Seattle Seahawks.
But while Ford is best-known as a run stuffer, he can still play a big role in collapsing the pocket and rushing the quarterback. He notched 25 pressures this season on 384 snaps (6.5%), which was the third-best figure across his career. In 2020 he accumulated 28 pressures on 430 snaps (6.5%) and 33 on 427 (7.7%) in 2021.
The Rams watched Saquon Barkley run through their defense for multiple long touchdowns last year. Signing Poona Ford is putting the foot down and doing what you can to prevent history from repeating.
*Weekly Poona Ford wrecks a screen tweet* pic.twitter.com/OjtiJaEp52
— Steven Haglund (@StevenIHaglund) December 21, 2024
The case against others
Consider me skeptical for now about the Davante Adams signing. Shipping out Cooper Kupp for a similarly-aged receiver on the wrong side of 30 is a needle I wouldn’t want to thread. We’ve seen this movie before in Los Angeles with Odell Beckham, Jr. and Allen Robinson. Will Adams be the sole individual out of these three to make a consistent impact?
If considering each draft pick for the most impactful move of the offseason, I think for 2025 alone I’d go with Jarquez Hunter. While Blake Corum is expected to be Kyren Williams’ direct backup, Hunter will probably see the field most often as a complimentary skillset to Williams. The rookie was brought in to be a playmaker for an offense devoid of explosive plays on the ground or on check downs and he will get plenty of opportunities to prove his worth in year one.
