The Los Angeles Rams have long eschewed investments at linebacker under Sean McVay and the only exception was a one-year stint for future Hall of Famer Bobby Wagner. That was until November 22nd, when the Rams extended Nate Landman to a three-year, $22 million contract after just 10 games with the team.
Remarkably, this almost perfectly coincides with Landman’s falloff.
Coming off of his fourth forced fumble of the season and a 21-19 win over the Seattle Seahawks, Les Snead and McVay recognized Landman as a key member of the defense for at least the next couple of seasons after this one. Landman had 91 tackles (9.1 tackles per game) and four forced fumbles.
In the 10 games, including playoffs, after the contract: 77 tackles (7.1 per game) and zero forced fumbles. According to Pro-Football-Reference, 5 touchdown passes have been thrown to the receiver closest to Landman, the second-most of any linebacker in the NFL in 2025. He also had 5 missed tackles in 3 playoff games—the most of any player in the 2025 postseason.
But those are just some basic stats. Film is better, right?
Well, Landman’s film is, at times, confusingly bad for a professional football player.
On The O-Line Committee podcast this week, a show hosted by two former veteran NFL offensive linemen, they were breaking down Seattle’s offensive line and run game in the NFC Championship game. On one certain run play, Landman stood out for making a high school-level mistake on fitting run gaps:
“And then (Nate) Landman here. This is a no no. Why would you ever go backside on this? I don’t know. This is this is an absolute gap integrity type thing here that you just cannot do. So, look at this. So what I’m talking about that with the gap integrity piece. So if you’re right here, so he has a gap, he has B gap, right? A gap, B gap. So watch Landman here because (Zabel) does such a great job of popping this shoulder and Charles (Cross) does such a great job. Landman has to be filling that gap right there. But for whatever reason, he takes the back door and that’s where the hole creates, right? You cannot take the back door against the Seahawks. You just can’t. They’re too good at seeing the cutbacks or at pressing everything front side. Just gashes. Gashes. So, what do you do now? What front is this? Oh, dude. Oh, poor life. God, dude. This is the one where it pops up on film the next day and you’re like, I have to go to the bathroom.”
The full video, queued up to the Landman quote, is here (thumbnail blocked by NFL):
Whether or not Landman’s contract breaks the bank or not is beside the point. His $7.7 million annual cap hit average is not untenable. The Rams would need a linebacker at his position no matter what and sometimes the average ones cost $7 million.
We have to ask though, if Landman falls below the level of a “replacement level” linebacker.
His stats would suggest that Landman is one of the worst starting linebackers in the NFL in terms of being a target in coverage and missing tackles. The film would suggest he might not grasp basic fundamentals of fitting gaps in the run game, which is probably the most important job of a linebacker.
It really makes you wonder just how long the Rams front office and coaching staff debated the reasons that the Atlanta Falcons let Landman leave in 2025 free agency without any fight to keep him.
Landman spent two seasons as a starter on the Falcons, one playing for Raheem Morris, but there was little market for him as a free agent. L.A. picked him up for cheap and then got overzealous in their desire to keep him long-term after 10 pretty good games at the position.
But now there has to be at least a little bit of doubt as to Landman’s long-term future with the team: If the Rams have him on the roster on the 5th day of the 2026 league year, then $2.35 million of his 2027 base salary becomes guaranteed. So if the Rams have Landman on the roster in 2026, it also makes it harder to cut him in 2027. There’s little question that the L.A. Rams will keep Landman, but is he a liability?
He has already proven to be a liability on the biggest stage.
Perhaps with another offseason, Landman’s performances will improve in 2026. It’s not as though Omar Speights would be an upgrade. Shaun Dolac, for whatever reason, was never given a chance by the coaching staff. So Landman is set for another season with the Rams.
But he’s going to need to play like he started as a player without a long-term contract, not how he finished as a player with a long-term contract.
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