Aside from a new longsnapper, the Los Angeles Rams have only made one outside free agent signing this week by adding cornerback Jaylen Watson to a three-year deal. Of course, that moves comes at the same time that the Rams traded for Trent McDuffie, in its way another “free agent” deal but at the price of giving up draft picks for the right to make him the highest-paid cornerback in the league.
But as more free agents get scooped up on Friday and the Rams having only addressed their secondary, should L.A. have been more proactive or are they as close as they need to be to fielding a Super Bowl roster?
What are Rams remaining needs?
Wide Receiver
The Rams have arguably the best receiver in the NFL with Puka Nacua and a strong red zone presence in Davante Adams, although he’s got to be nearing the end of his football career. Then it’s Jordan Whittington, Konata Mumpfield, and Xavier Smith.
Wide Receiver is considered the top consideration for L.A. with the 13th pick in the draft, but if they could address this with a signing or a trade then the Rams could focus on another need instead.
Stefon Diggs remains a free agent. Would he fit what the Rams need?
Center
Coleman Shelton is the weak spot of the Rams offensive line. They weren’t going to pay Tyler Linderbaum a $27 million salary like the Raiders did, but then L.A. appears to just be letting Shelton keep his spot. Should they?
Linebacker
One of the best reasons to sign a wide receiver would be so that the Rams could focus their draft efforts on a defensive position like linebacker. It may not be what a team uses pick 13 on, but L.A. could also then trade down from there (if there’s an offer) and look for linebacker help in the draft where it’s appropriate.
Nate Landman is signed, but had his ups-and-downs last season.
Omar Speights had too many downs.
Shaun Dolac is just the idea of being a good linebacker, but we haven’t seen it happen in the regular season.
Maybe the Rams could have gone after someone like Devin Lloyd in free agency but they didn’t and now there’s not a single linebacker available from the NFL’s top-101 free agents list. Is it another year where L.A. just accepts that the defense won’t have great linebackers?
Cornerback
Even after adding McDuffie and Watson, the Rams could use more depth here. Will they just re-sign some of their free agents like Cobie Durant and Ahkello Witherspoon?
Trade?
What if the Rams decide to target guard Vega Ioane in the draft? Then L.A. could entertain trading Steve Avila and getting a pretty good return considering the dearth of quality starting guards in the league and how much some of them are being overpaid. It would be one thing if Avila was the only guard that the Rams had to pay but since they also have to consider extending Kevin Dotson, trading one of the two makes sense.
Have the Rams done enough?
The problem in free agency usually isn’t that teams don’t do enough, it’s that some of them do too much.
The Rams already had a championship caliber roster and they didn’t lose anybody significant from that roster. So now it’s just about adding on, which is what L.A. did with the cornerback situation.
Yes, there are more roads to pave, especially when it comes to matching up with playoff teams on defense (a problem for the Rams in the postseason, even against the Bears at times), but that doesn’t mean simply overpaying free agents. The draft still exists, as does the trade market.
So yeah, the Rams could have done a little bit more. But I don’t think their lack of free agents moves would be alarming to any rational fans.
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