Why Rams Could Revolutionize 12 Personnel With Breakout Rookie

Sean McVay’s immediate reaction to drafting Terrance Ferguson on April 25 was unmistakable.

“A little 12 personnel now, Tony?” McVay shouted in the draft room after taking Ferguson, yelling at vice president of football and business administration Tony Pastoors. The Rams had a microphone on their head coach for the team’s Behind the Grind documentary. The term 12 personnel refers to formations with one running back and two tight ends.

One aspect of that vision is the ability to use more formations with two tight ends, especially near the goal line. Ferguson and veteran Tyler Higbee figure to give McVay a new chapter of play-call options, whether utilizing Kyren Williams out of the backfield, or even capitalizing on mismatches Matthew Stafford sees with Puka Nacua and Davante Adams.

Ferguson, assuming he’s able to attend training camp amid the NFL’s unprecedented lack of second-round players under contract, is the candidate most likely to enjoy a breakout season, according to Rams insider Jourdan Rodrigue from The Athletic.

“To be clear, Rams coach Sean McVay finally has to commit to a significant increase in 12 personnel for Ferguson, a rookie second-round pick, to truly emerge this season,” Rodrigue wrote this week. “But the offense has trended that way at times, especially last season.”

Rodrigue said 82 percent of McVay’s 2024 formations were 11 personnel (one running back, one tight end and three wide receivers), but 15.5 percent had two tight ends. And that was obviously before the Rams took Ferguson with the 46th overall pick.

From Weeks 15-18, according to Rodrigue, McVay used 12 personnel noticeably more often. Los Angeles was 3-1 over that stretch, its only loss a meaningless season-finale against Seattle.

“The Rams ran 12 personnel on an average of just 5 percent of offensive plays in 2023,” she wrote. “Veteran tight end Tyler Higbee’s return from injury across that period gave McVay two healthy starting-caliber tight ends. He has reiterated his hope for his offense to be more multiple in 2025.”

Higbee, who missed most of last year recovering from a brutal knee injury late in the 2023 season, also could be that breakout player, especially with defenses expected to focus on Nakua and Adams. Either way, Ferguson’s arrival gives the Rams their most dangerous pair of red-zone targets from the tight end position during the McVay era (2017-present).

Last year, the Rams (52.38 percent) ranked 25th in the league in scoring touchdowns on possessions inside the 20-yard line. The year before, they were much better at 63.64 percent, fourth in the NFL. Still, Higbee and tight end Davis Allen combined for just three overall touchdown receptions that season.

When the Rams won the Super Bowl in 2021, Higbee matched his single-season career best with five touchdown catches. However, the Rams ranked tied for 16th in the NFL with a 60.0-percent red-zone conversion rate.

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