The Los Angeles Rams will begin the 2025 NFL season on Sunday when they take on the Houston Texans. This year will be a big one for the Rams as they have Super Bowl aspirations. Before the beginning of the season, here are 10 thoughts that I have on the 2025 Rams.
There has rarely ever been a concern about whether or not Matthew Stafford would play in Week 1. Throughout the entire back injury fiasco, the Rams always seemed confident that Stafford would be ready for the game against the Texans. Still, it’s fair to have concerns about how Stafford at 38 can hold up over the course of a very physical NFL season.
Within the first four weeks, Stafford will likely betaking hits from Will Anderson, Danielle Hunter, Nick Bosa, and Jalen Carter. Stafford has always been a quarterback that plays through injuries. There may not be concerns about Stafford taking the first snaps against the Texans, but there are a lot of questions when it comes to everything that follows.
2. What does the offense look like?
Over the course of Sean McVay’s tenure with the Rams, there have been several iterations of the McVay offense. In 2017, the offense revolved around the wide zone run game and play action off of that. When the Rams won the Super Bowl in 2018, it was an offense that operated out of empty and spread the defense out. Following the disaster that was 2022, McVay completely rebuilt the run game and incorporated gap scheme into the offense.
Now, it’s possible that we see another version of McVay’s Rams. The Rams drafted tight end Terrance Ferguson in the second round. The Ferguson pick has had many speculating that the Rams will be introducing more 12 personnel. With Davante Adams, the Rams are four deep at wide receiver. Could they go back to more empty looks and spread defenses out? At its core, the McVay offense will operate off of the same principles, but it will be interesting to see what that looks like.
3. Jared Verse will be a top defensive player
Had Jared Verse recorded eight sacks as a rookie, he may already be considered one of the top edge rushers in the NFL. However, Verse lacked some finishing ability early on during his rookie season and that hurt his final sack numbers. With that said, he still managed to have an impact pressuring the quarterback, ranking inside the top-5 in most pressure metrics.
While Verse may not win the Defensive Player of the Year, it would be a surprise if he wasn’t at least in the conversation. Verse finished on just 5.8 percent of his pressures last year. If that jumps close to what Jonathan Greenard did for Minnesota last year, capitalizing on 15 percent of his pressures, 11.5 sacks should be the expectation for Verse. With some forced fumbles and other impact plays, that would get Verse into the conversation.
4. Rams need Steve Avila to take next step
The most important player on the Rams offensive line this season may be Steve Avila. Avila is heading into year three and coming off a bit of a sophomore slump. Injuries certainly played a role in that and he wasn’t necessarily bad. However, he didn’t take the jump and become the dominant force on the interior that some expected.
Over the last two years, Kevin Dotson has been a force at right guard and the Rams need the same from Avila on the left side. This is a player that the Rams want to be able to build their offensive line around moving forward. Entering the season healthy should help, but with Alaric Jackson managing blood clots all offseason, the Rams need Avila to take that next step.
5. Did Rams make right choice in the secondary?
Heading into the offseason, one of the biggest needs on the roster was at cornerback. However, instead of upgrading at either spot, the Rams opted to bring back Ahkello Witherspoon and Darious Williams. Additionally, they didn’t add anybody in the draft. Witherspoon and Williams are known commodities, but both have limited ceilings. That’s not a cornerback duo that’s going to scare many offenses. In fact, some might see those matchups as an advantage.
The Rams are threading a needle of their pass rush being able to uplift the secondary. It happened over the back half of last year, but it’s worth wondering if that’s sustainable. The Rams are also hoping that Emmanuel Forbes can reach his potential as a former first-round pick. It’s only a matter of time before we find out whether or not remaining with the status quo was the right decision.
The Rams offense was able to unlock something that we hadn’t seen before with Odell Beckham Jr. back in 2021. They tried to replicate that with Allen Robinson in 2022, but it simply wasn’t a match. While the Rams were using Demarcus Robinson as their “x” receiver over the last two years, he just wasn’t that caliber of player. Robinson got the job done, but simply played a role.
With Adams, the Rams get the closest thing that they have had since signing Beckham Jr. While Kupp was still the featured wide receiver in the offense, Beckham still ranked 25th in targets per route and 27th in yards per route run. His seven touchdowns were seventh in the NFL after Week 10 and through the postseason. Had Beckham not gotten hurt, he probably wins Super Bowl MVP. That’s what the Rams will be hoping to get out of Adams.
7. The ‘Kam’ duo at safety will break out
All of last offseason, the media raved about Kam Curl and his play-making ability in the Rams secondary. However, Curl didn’t record an interception and didn’t have the impact that some were expecting. With that said, he’s in year two of the defense and played much better over the second half of the season. In fact, PFF had Curl as a borderline top-10 safety.
The same can be said about Kam Kinchens. There were a lot of expectations placed on Kinchens given his play-making ability at Miami. However, early in the year, he took bad angles in the run game, leading to him getting less playing time for a stretch. From Weeks 13-18, Kinchens was the sixth-best safety via PFF. It wouldn’t be surprising to see him carry that momentum into year two and become a playmaker in the secondary.
8. NFC West will be a tough division
There may be some that believe that the Rams will run away with the NFC West, but that is very unlikely to be the case. The Arizona Cardinals have a favorable schedule over the first six weeks. A 5-1 or 4-2 record is very possible. It’s been said all offseason that the San Francisco 49ers have the easiest schedule in the NFL. While the Seahawks may not be a playoff team, in year two under Mike Macdonald that will be a feisty team with a very good defense.
The NFC West may be a division in which the teams eat at each other and that will make for 10-7 or 11-6 as enough to take the title. This is going to be a very difficult division and one of the toughest in football. It would not be surprising to see this one come down to the final week of the regular season.
9. A playoff appearance is no longer enough
Over the last two years, making the playoffs has seemingly been enough given where the Rams were after 2022. Nobody expected the Rams to be in the postseason in 2023 and they were playing with house money. While the playoffs were expected last year, it was still a very young team. Making the playoffs is no longer enough for this version of the Rams.
Matthew Stafford is 38 years old and there won’t be many more opportunities for the Rams to win with him under center. This isn’t to say that the Rams have to win the Super Bowl, but they need to make a deep playoff run. The Rams need to be playing on Championship Sunday for a chance to play in February. Players like Puka Nacua and Kobie Turner are in year three. The Rams are experienced in the secondary and on the offensive line. This is also year two with Chris Shula as the defensive coordinator. Making the postseason shouldn’t be taken for granted, but just making it can’t be satisfactory.
10. Is this Matthew Stafford’s last dance
There is a chance that this is the last hurrah for Matthew Stafford. He certainly could come back for 2026, but at this point in his career, nothing is guaranteed. When the Rams traded for Stafford, the hope was that he would be able to get the Rams over the hump. If Stafford has proven anything, it’s that had he been on a team like the Rams for the prime of his career rather than the twilight of it, he would be considered a sure thing as a Hall of Fame player.
No matter what happens in 2025, it may be important to appreciate Stafford that much more. The Rams are preparing for life after Stafford with two first-round picks next season. Despite his contract lasting through next season, his 2026 salary isn’t guaranteed until the fifth day of the league year. If this does end up being Stafford’s last dance, the Rams would be best to make the most of it.
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