When you think of the 2025 Los Angeles Rams, the offensive side of the ball is the first thing that comes to mind. This is a unit led by quarterback Matthew Stafford. That’s the same Stafford that outdid MVP Josh Allen last season, throwing for 320-yards and two touchdowns. Puka Nacua was the most efficient wide receiver last season and the team added Davante Adams. Kyren Williams has been one of the most productive running backs in the NFL. As a whole, the Rams offense is led by Sean McVay who is one of the best offensive minds in football.
However, it’s hard not to wonder whether or not it is the young defense that will need to be the unit that carries this roster. That’s not to say that the offense doesn’t have the potential to be good or can’t be great. Still, it’s also hard to ignore the inconsistencies that date back to last season, combined with Matthew Stafford’s back issue and the questions surrounding Alaric Jackson’s availability.
As Diante Lee from The Ringer recently wrote about Stafford,
“While he’s flashed in spurts since his championship year in 2021, Stafford’s mid-to-late 30s haven’t been nearly as prolific as what we’ve seen from passers such as Drew Brees, Philip Rivers, and Tom Brady in their age-35-plus seasons. Given the slow start to training camp, it’s fair to wonder what sort of ceiling Stafford could hit now, at age 37.”
There is certainly context needed for that lack of consistency from Stafford, starting with injuries to the offensive line and his receivers. At the same time, the Rams quarterback has lacked consistency when the offense has been healthy. The Rams simply haven’t gotten a full, consistent season from Stafford since the Super Bowl run. From Weeks 7-13, Stafford was seventh in success rate last season, but following the prolific Bills game he ranked 20th. As a whole, the Rams offense was 13th in offense EPA per play from Weeks 7-13 before dropping to 20th in Weeks 15-17.
From a quarterbacking and play-calling perspective, the Rams offense hasn’t been the consistent juggernaut that is to be expected from a McVay-led unit. Again, given the questions to the quarterback and left tackle positions, it’s in the realm of possibility that the offense has a similar slow start as the past two seasons.
At some point, father time catches up with everybody. In Peyton Manning’s final season, he had lost all velocity on his passes. Had the Denver Broncos not had one of the best defenses of the 21st century, they very likely don’t win the Super Bowl in Manning’s final season.
It’s worth noting that Manning had the degenerative nerve in his neck and had torn a plantar fascia in his left foot. With that said, nobody knows how Stafford’s back will react to getting hit or how it will affect him on a week-to-week basis during the grind of the regular season.
Towards the end of 2024, the Rams defense rose to the occasion when the offense wasn’t producing as expected. Outside of Week 18 in which the Rams rested their starters, the defense allowed fewer than 10 points in four of their final five games. That included the NFC Wild Card game against the Minnesota Vikings in which they only allowed nine. Additionally, following the bye in Week 6, the defense allowed more than 20 points just four times.
With that said, the Rams defense is still getting talked about like the unit that gave up 41 points to the Arizona Cardinals in Week 2 than the one that finished the season by giving up nine points to the Vikings. The last thing people remember from this unit is giving up 285 yards rushing to the Philadelphia Eagles while simultaneously forgetting that Jalen Hurts had his lowest passer-rating since Week 11. Sheil Kapadia of the Ringer recently ranked the Rams defense 24th. Said Kapadia,
“The Rams have one move: pressure the quarterback! And they’re pretty good at it. Los Angeles has invested heavily in its defensive line. Jared Verse had a terrific rookie season, and, if we include the postseason, the Rams produced the fourth-best pressure rate in the NFL last year. But overall, this was not a good defense last season (26th in DVOA). Of course, it didn’t help that this was one of three teams to face a backup quarterback less than 10 percent of the time. The lack of talent at corner will show up against good offenses again this season, and the run defense is below average. We’ll see how far the young pass rush can take the Rams, but results that are similar to those from last season would not surprise me.”
It’s easy to look at the Rams defensive personnel and not get overly excited. They may have the Defensive Rookie of the Year in Jared Verse. However, outside of Verse and the defensive line, this is a group that’s perceived to be void of talent. What tends to get lost in that is how Chris Shula had the Rams defense playing as one cohesive unit and some of the cool things he was doing schematically.
For a coach with the last name Shula, it’s odd that he seems to be one of the more underrated coordinators in the NFL. From Weeks 7-17, the Rams defense allowed a passer rating of 85.2. This was the fifth-best in the NFL while ranking seventh in adjusted net yards per attempt at 5.57. They also had the second-most interceptions during that time frame.
While the Rams run defense gets heavily criticized, they contained it pretty well down the stretch. They ranked 11th in run defense EPA following the bye week and were eighth in run defense success rate. After allowing six rushing touchdowns in the first five weeks and an explosive run rate of 4.3 percent, they allowed seven the rest of the season and an explosive run rate of 3.1 percent.
With that said, in Pro Football Sports Network’s defensive coordinator rankings heading into 2025, Shula came in 26th. Said Jacob Infante,
“The Los Angeles Rams have some enticing young talents on their roster, but it hasn’t all come together for them as a unit on defense yet. Higher expectations should come for Chris Shula in his second year as their defensive coordinator…They placed 24th in Defense+ last year, and they made no significant offseason additions to their defense. If the Rams improve their defense in 2025, it’ll be a credit to Shula’s coaching.“
Removing the game against the Eagles in Week 12 from the sample, the Rams ranked sixth in rushing yards per carry and yards per game allowed. When removing quarterback scrambles, they allowed just 3.6 yards per carry and a 1.3 explosive run rate.
It’s another example of how the defense turned the corner after the bye week and how it was really just one team and a bad matchup that clouded the overall picture. Over the second half of the season, the performances against the Eagles were the exception and not the norm.
The Rams offense could be the explosive unit that has come to be expected under McVay. At the same time, if that is the case, the defense proved last year that it can carry the load if needed. Again, they played well following the bye week in 2024 and this is a unit heading into the second year of the system. The young players that the Rams have relied on are maturing.
This isn’t going to be a defensive-led team by any means, but they are much better than the 24th best defense heading into 2025. It’s time to stop talking about the Rams defense like they are a bottom-10 unit void of talent. That may have been the case two years ago, but general manager Les Snead has invested a lot of draft capital on that side of the ball.
It makes sense that the media and others would want to see it over the course of a full season and see what Shula does in year two. Still, this unit is much closer to above average than they are the bottom-10. With another year under Shula, the Rams defense looks more like a unit that’s ready to complement the offense and even carry them if needed.
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