The Los Angeles Rams may not be done at the trade deadline. While Sean McVay did say that, “it’s not something that we’ve really talked out,” he also added, “I think if certain opportunities arise that you feel like give you a chance to be able to significantly upgrade your football team.”
It was a typical coach-speak answer when it comes to the trade deadline and making any addition. McVay didn’t rule anything out, but also said they weren’t necessarily active. Still, in the window that they are currently in with Matthew Stafford playing at his current level, it would make sense for the Rams to do what they can to capitalize on that. The Athletic’s Nate Atkins recently wrote about this and mentioned tight end as a position to watch. Said Atkins,
“Los Angeles could use a top-flight tight end now that Tyler Higbee is 32 and a rash of injuries has taken some of a toll. He leads the team’s tight ends with 13 catches. Los Angeles drafted Terrance Ferguson in the second round in April to eventually become that target, but it’s been a slower transition with his need to improve as a blocker. He caught his first touchdown against the Jacksonville Jaguars but has seen just four targets and a 19 percent snap share so far. The Rams are leaning more into playing multiple tight ends as a way to protect Stafford and introduce the play-action elements he thrives in. But by playing two and three at a time, they also lessen the need for any one of them to stand out. Still, it’s a position that could produce more with the attention Nacua and Davante Adams command on the outside.”
On one hand, it makes sense that the Rams would still want to add a tight end. Higbee has taken a step back this season and Colby Parkinson isn’t living up to his free agent contract. The Rams currently rank 28th in tight end targets this season. The position as a whole has 30 receptions in 2025. There are 10 tight ends this season with 30 or more receptions.
However, at what point is a tight end not the thing that’s going to unlock the offense? What I mean by that is, head coach Sean McVay has pushed heavily for a tight end over the past three years. The Rams attempted to trade up for tight ends Dalton Kincaid and Brock Bowers in the draft. Parkinson and Higbee are the 13th and 15th-highest paid tight ends in 2025. The Rams are the only team in the NFL with two tight ends inside the top-15 salaries. That’s not to mention the addition of Terrance Ferguson in the offseason as a second round pick.
Ferguson isn’t just a player that the Rams drafted in the second round. This is a player that the Rams considered taking with the 26th overall pick had they not been able to trade back. While his snap count has increased recently, through the first seven weeks of the season, the Rams barely used him. Is this really a position in which the Rams need to be giving up more assets?
It makes sense that the Rams would want to slowly work in a rookie into the offense, especially as Ferguson missed time with an injury in training camp. With that said, we’re now two months into the season. If the Rams make a move for a tight end, either Ferguson actually wasn’t the player that the team wanted in the second round or he hasn’t been as good as initially thought. Both of those are equally problematic.
That’s especially problematic considering the approach in the draft. Many would have considered tight end to be a luxury pick at that spot. Cornerbacks Will Johnson and Trey Amos went after Ferguson along with guard Tate Ratledge. This isn’t to say that the Rams made the wrong choice by selecting Ferguson, but as a healthy second-round pick, the expectation should be for him to contribute.
Either the Rams are deep enough at tight end to have the flexibility of giving a rookie like Ferguson time to develop or the position group isn’t good enough and they have to make a move for an upgrade. As someone who preaches the idea of multiple things being true at once, all of these things can’t be true.
How much would a Mark Andrews really add to the Rams tight end room? This is a player that hasn’t been the same since suffering a cracked fibula and ankle ligament damage in 2023. For a team that allegedly prioritizes blocking above all else, David Njoku ranks 98th out of 99 tight ends this season in run-blocking via PFF. Chig Okonkwo ranks 97th. Even if you don’t think highly of PFF, the best blocking tight ends aren’t being graded that poorly.
For not being a good blocker, in a small sample, Ferguson is a top-15 TE in run-blocking via PFF. Among rookie tight ends, he’s second behind Mitchell Evans. For context, Evans is actually a blocking tight end.
It just seems odd that a team that has benefitted so much from young players over the past two years would want to make a move that would push a promising player down the depth chart. We’re two months into the season and the Rams just had a bye week. It’s time to see what Ferguson can do with an opportunity.
Again, it’s a small sample as Ferguson has only ran 26 routes this season. However, he ranks 10th among tight ends in yards per route run, third in yards per target, and is first in average depth of target. This is a player that can win vertically which is what the Rams will be missing with Tutu Atwell. He also has the size to win in the red zone which is an area the offense could use a boost. What is the benefit of pushing that player further down the depth chart or not increasing his role in favor of another tight end who is likely near the end of his career?
The Rams have an opportunity right now to get Terrance Ferguson more involved in the offense. This was always a player that was likely not going to be heavily involved until after the bye week. We’re now at that point and with Higbee’s fall-off in combination with Parkinson not producing as expected, the Rams need to utilize Ferguson, not spend more assets to bring in another tight end.
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