We’re inching closer to the Los Angeles Rams’ season opener against the Houston Texans. A week from Thursday will be the NFL season opener. Crazy! As rosters are being sorted around the league, ESPN did its annual list of the NFL’s top 100 players, and the Rams saw three players make the cut.
Puka Nacua (No. 36), Jared Verse (No. 55) and Matthew Stafford (No. 71) were included among the best of the best ahead of the 2025 campaign. That trio was expected to be on there in some form, though the rankings are up for debate. Aren’t they always?
ESPN projects Nacua to finish with 109 receptions for 1,461 yards and 7 touchdowns. The BYU product led the Rams in receiving last season despite missing six games. He also finished with the third-highest receiving yards per game (90), only behind Ja’Marr Chase (100.5) and Justin Jefferson (90.2).
Verse was predicted to finish with 62 tackles, 8 sacks, 2 pass defensed and 2 forced fumbles. Fans and league analysts have pegged the 2024 Defensive Rookie of the Year to break out in a big way during his sophomore season. Double-digit sacks should be the expectation in ‘25, but even if that doesn’t happen, as many of us hope, Verse has a knack for making quarterbacks uncomfortable.
ESPN said that he finished with 50 QB pressures last season, which is the third most among rookies since tracking began in 2017. Nick Bosa and Micah Parsons were the only players ahead of him; obviously some great company to be in. Although I’m thinking that Parsons shouldn’t be a role model for Verse whenever contract negotiations arise.
Finally, Stafford was projected to finish with 4,436 yards and have a 28-12 touchdown-to-interception ratio. Stafford is a difficult player to predict right now, as he’s had injury concerns for most of the offseason, including missing most of training camp, so his availability for all 17 games is a concern entering his age-37 campaign. However, if those stats end up being anywhere close to accurate, those will be his best numbers since his first season in L.A.
The only other Rams player who was deserving of a spot was Davante Adams, and he was snubbed. Otherwise, the rankings were fair for all Rams players included, even if we think they all belong at the top. Either way, hopefully that trio can surpass all their projections and expectations for this coming season. If so, then we’re about to be in for a treat.
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