Rams Get a Great Off-Season Grade

The Los Angeles Rams have done an excellent job in the off-season and have prepared themselves nicely for next season. After they lost to the Philadelphia Eagles in the playoffs, they did everything in their power to bridge the gap between them and the reigning Super Bowl champions.

Their stellar off-season began when they retained Matthew Stafford and kept him in Los Angeles on a team-friendly deal. Without this crucial decision, the Rams' outlook on 2025 would look completely different from what it does now.

Instead, once it was confirmed Stafford was gonna stay in Los Angeles, that empowered the Rams front office to be as aggressive as possible to make his last dance with the Rams as best as possible. His retirement is looming over the franchise, and to settle any debates on whether he's a Hall of Famer, the Rams made plenty of improvements to their roster to give him as best chance as possible to ride off into the sunset with his second Super Bowl ring.

Their off-season improvements include bolstering their passing attack by signing Davante Adams and drafting Terrance Ferguson and adding more fuel to the fire along their defensive line with players like Chris Paul Jr. and Josaiah Stewart.

One of their biggest weaknesses last year on defense was how vulnerable they were against the run, they made sure to sign Poona Ford out of free agency to add some bulk in the middle of their defensive line to stave teams off from running the ball down the field.

Trevor Sikkima is a sports writer for Pro Football Focus, and he recently published their off-season grades for all 32 NFL teams. With the improvements they made in mind, the Rams got a great grade of B+!

"Retaining Matthew Stafford was a big win. He didn't enjoy his best season in 2024, posting a 73.3 PFF passing grade, but losing him would’ve meant a full roster rebuild. Los Angeles did well to swap Davante Adams for Cooper Kupp, and the front office made a solid addition of Poona Ford to their young and improving defensive line.

The Rams didn't address cornerback at all, a worrying development with Darious Williams (59.8), Ahkello Witherspoon (62.6) and Cobie Durant (61.5) posting lower PFF coverage grades last season. Their draft class was small, but Terrance Ferguson, Josaiah Stewart and Chris Paul will be important players for the team. Plus, the Rams received Atlanta’s first-round pick next year by trading out of the first round".

The Rams made it to the second round of the playoffs last year, and yet they are still one of the most improved teams across the NFL. Sean McVay and Les Snead have done all they can to boost their chances of winning another Super Bowl, now it's on the players to go out there and execute.