Forum Replies Created
-
AuthorPosts
-
znModeratorRams ‘C’ grade for Matthew Stafford trade aged horribly
Five years after the Los Angeles Rams “lost” trade for Matthew Stafford, the deal looks wildly different now.Given that the Rams’ 2021 trade for Matthew Stafford was so immediately successful, it would be easy for fans to forget that many experts in the media were quick to deride Les Snead and Sean McVay for the deal when it happened. Five seasons later, Stafford has won a Super Bowl and an MVP award, stayed relatively healthy and available, and led the Rams to the playoffs four times.
On the flip side of the deal, the Detroit Lions, who were generally considered to be the “winners” of the trade by acquiring two first round picks and Jared Goff, just missed the playoffs for the third time in the last five years.
It would be fair to say that both franchises got what they wanted out of the deal, but at the time of the trade, it was the Rams who were criticized for overrating the difference between Stafford and Goff, while underrating the value of first round picks.
Who wins now?
The Athletic’s Sheil Kapadia gave the Rams a “C” for the trade back in 2021, but said the Lions deserved an “A”. He thought the ceiling for the Stafford-McVay pairing was high, but that the defense would have a hard time replicating their success from the past season:
Having said that, the move comes with plenty of risk. Defensive performance doesn’t always carry over year to year. The Rams’ defense is built on the talents of Donald and Ramsey. Those two players combined to miss just one regular-season game in 2020. But in the NFC divisional round, we caught a glimpse of what the Rams look like when one of them (in this case, Donald) is less than 100 percent. It wasn’t pretty.
Los Angeles also lost defensive coordinator Brandon Staley to the Chargers. And it could lose key free agents like safety John Johnson and edge rusher Leonard Floyd. The defense could be good in 2021, but there are no guarantees that it will be as good as it was in 2020.
The Lions understandably got a near-perfect grade because they got two first round picks for a quarterback who didn’t want to be there aore.
The point is Detroit has optionality. Having Goff’s contract on their books is not going to kill them. And they were able to pocket a pair of first-round picks. They did well in this trade by any objective measure.
It’s not hard to see why the Lions got an ‘A’ back in 2021 or how they’ve been able to turn the trade into a franchise turnaround since then. Under the leadership of head coach Dan Campbell and general manager Brad Holmes — a disciple of Snead over about two decades in the Rams front office — the Lions have done a phenomenal job of drafting and using their first round picks. That includes RB Jahmyr Gibbs and WR Jameson Williams, the two players that Detroit was able to get after maneuvering with the first rounders they got for Stafford.
To their credit, Detroit improved from 3 wins to 9 wins to 12 wins to 15 wins in the four seasons after trading Stafford to the Rams.
However, the loss of key members of the coaching staff in 2025 — ironic, given the points Kapadia made about Staley in 2021 — hurt the Lions last season, and they dropped to 9-8, missing the playoffs for the first time since 2022.
And Goff, who has managed to revive his career in Detroit and made the Pro Bowl in three of the last four years, has done exactly what the Lions wanted from him when the trade happened. He’s basically the same player that he was when the Rams went to the Super Bowl in 2018, which is both a positive and a negative:
Goff is a game manager who can help a talented team reach the playoffs. But Stafford is a game changer, the type who can win MVP and put a team on his back during a playoff run. In Detroit’s best season, going 15-2 in 2024, Goff choked and threw three interceptions in an ugly divisional round playoff loss to the Commanders.
The trade grade didn’t adequately reflect the probability that Jared Goff will never be good enough to lead a team to a Super Bowl championship, whereas Matthew Stafford never had the chance to play with a team as good as the Rams.
Other trade grades
Over at NFL.com, the Lions won the trade according to Marc Sessler, giving the Lions an A and the Rams a B+, calling them “reckless”.
PFF’s Brad Spielberger also felt the Lions won the trade:
It’s hard to look at this deal and think that the Detroit Lions have not come out ahead. The Rams’ supporting cast, excellent early in the McVay/Goff marriage, has atrophied some over the past few years, which has led to Goff’s decline. The defense, the league’s best in 2020, lost its coordinator this offseason when Brandon Staley moved across town to be with the Chargers. The situation that Stafford falls into, while better than the one he had in Detroit, might not yield the results that this trade implies it will. The betting markets appear to be betting into Los Angeles as a result of this move, but we would be inclined to take the other side if offered.
It’s amazing to look back on how the trade was discussed, almost as if many analysts were rooting for the Rams to regress because it validated the idea that Detroit had ‘won’ the deal.
Too much NFL analysis today is centered around salary cap spreadsheets and draft capital instead of the actual objective: winning championships. The Rams understood that an elite quarterback could raise their ceiling more than two future first-round picks ever could.
The Sporting News also gave the Lions an A and the Rams a B-, arguing that Stafford was not much better than Goff:
Stafford gives the Rams a higher floor and keeps them as a strong playoff contender, but in the big picture of trying to get back to the Super Bowl, has an overrated ceiling. The Rams, who don’t have a first-round pick again in 2021, gave up two more over the next two years.
Stats have also played a huge part in misleading so many “experts” and fans into believing that one quarterback is as good as another quarterback because of their production. Goff’s stats in the past four years are legitimately insane, throwing 130 touchdowns and only 39 interceptions with a passer rating of 103.4, genuinely some of the best stats in history.
And yet anybody who has watched him play knows that he’s not as talented as Stafford, doesn’t have the deep ball accuracy or talent, doesn’t have the arm angles or improvisational skills as Stafford, and would have never helped receivers like Cooper Kupp and Puka Nacua put up Hall of Fame-caliber seasons like Stafford. The comparison shows how stats alone can sometimes obscure the difference between a productive quarterback and a transformational one.
It’s hard to argue against the Lions doing what was right for their team because Stafford asked to be traded and then Holmes was able to turn him into a foundation that would put Detroit on a Super Bowl path for the first time in franchise history.
However, the angle that the Rams had to get an upgrade at quarterback or risk wasting McVay and Aaron Donald’s value to a team at the time was overlooked too many times. Five years later, the Rams are still a Super Bowl contender. That’s value that teams almost never get from two first round picks, including the Lions.
znModeratorWe rounded up several record predictions for the Rams this season and compiled them below, giving you a look at how highly viewed Los Angeles is entering the 2026 campaign. All but one have the Rams winning at least 12 games, with the only exception being a 9-8 prediction from FOX Sports.
Needless to say, a 9-8 record would be disappointing for the Rams, who have legitimate Super Bowl aspirations after coming up just short the last two seasons. After winning at least 10 games in each of the last three years, it would be a surprise to see the Rams fall short of double-digit wins this year.
Ali Bhanpuri, NFL.com: 12-5
Bhanpuri picked the Rams to finish with the best record in the NFC, securing the top seed in the conference and a first-round bye.
If the Rams end the season holding the Lombardi Trophy, they’ll have earned every ounce of that sterling silver. Their schedule is brutal. They play overseas (in Australia!), on Thanksgiving Eve (a Wednesday!) and on Christmas Day (a Friday!). Their first three tilts are all in prime time, including at Denver in Week 3, which is immediately followed by a trip to Philadelphia before another iso game against Buffalo in Week 5. Their post-bye stretch, from Week 12 on, doesn’t let up even once. But if there’s any team equipped to overcome such a challenging slate, it’s Sean McVay’s club. Time will tell whether a little more immediate help would have made the difference in them securing that priceless hardware.
Tom Blair, NFL.com: 12-5
Blair has the Rams making the playoffs as a wild-card team, earning the fifth seed with a 12-5 record.
Nate Atkins, The Athletic: 12-5
This Rams team looks more complete than it did last season, when it finished 12-5 with the league’s toughest schedule. The Rams added McDuffie and Watson to fix the Achilles’ heel of the secondary, and they should rebound from special teams woes that cost them in nearly every defeat. Los Angeles has the look of a team that could be favored in a wide majority of its games.
Eric D. Williams, FOX Sports: 9-8
The Los Angeles Rams pushed all their chips into the middle of the table for the 2026 season, making a blockbuster trade with the Kansas City Chiefs for versatile slot corner Trent McDuffie and signing his teammate, outside cornerback Jaylen Watson, in free agency, significantly upgrading a defense that let them down in the NFC Championship Game at Seattle. However, Matthew Stafford is 38 years old and played all 17 games last season for the first time since 2021. And slated to back Stafford up is surprising first-round pick Ty Simpson, who has never taken an NFL snap and is a play away from leading a team that is the current betting favorite to win the Super Bowl. The Rams also must make sure Puka Nacua’s off-the-field issues are in the rearview mirror.
Moe Moton, Bleacher Report: 13-4
The Los Angeles Rams have won at least 10 games in three consecutive seasons. Despite his age, Matthew Stafford has been mostly available, except in 2022, when he missed eight games.
As long as Stafford avoids injury, the Rams are Super Bowl contenders. They have a stacked roster with no glaring needs.
Mike Clay, ESPN: 13.2-3.8
Clay uses a more analytical approach to record predictions, but he has the Rams winning about 13 games and losing four of them. With a 13-4 record, the Rams are the No. 1 seed in Clay’s projections.
znModeratorPuka Nacua 2025 catching.pic.twitter.com/vGewbMNEEM
— Football Performances (@NFLPerformances) May 20, 2026
znModeratorI get McVay’s regret about how he handled things with Goff. However, had he been transparent with Goff and told him that the Rams were going to explore trading him and then the trade didn’t come to fruition, how would that have impacted their relationship moving forward?
I’ve said all this before, probably several times, but I think that how the trade was handled (–and Snead was part of that too–) was just one outgrowth of a management dysfunction that existed before the trade issue.
McVay became the defacto qb coach in 2019 and didn’t handle it well. He pushed Goff in ways that didn’t work, and was public about it. I think that Goff lost his confidence and started playing like it. One of the first things Ben Johnson did in Detroit was to work collaboratively with Goff and build up his confidence.
I defended the trade for Stafford when it happened because I thought Goff and McVay were a bad “marriage” and the only way out of that was for one of them to go. Once they got Stafford, I immediately thought McVay would work better with him than he did with Goff, primarily because Stafford was a very advanced veteran and essentially at a coach’s level in his understanding of the game. Stafford was an upgrade, but then at the same time, Goff demonstrated with the Lions that he is one of the good ones, he just needed to be in a situation that suited him better.
To me, handling the trade badly was just another chapter in that long book, ie. the book being the Rams from 2019 through to the trade in 2021.
…
znModerator“His personality is kind of like how he plays”@colincowherd & @ryenarussillo on Aaron Rodgers pic.twitter.com/k4OpVhetu1
— The Volume (@TheVolumeSports) May 20, 2026
Aaron Rodgers is probably the most gifted QB I've watched. His 2011 season is the highest level I've ever seen a QB reach. His final season should be a glorious farewell tour. But, yes, it's complicated. https://t.co/vNVjdPyWrk
— Frank Schwab (@YahooSchwab) May 20, 2026
znModeratorWhy the Rams are still Super Bowl favorites despite drafting for the future over the present
Nate Atkins
Ever since Matthew Stafford announced he would return after a Most Valuable Player campaign, a bar was set for the Los Angeles Rams in 2026.
In some ways, it felt like “Super Bowl or bust.”
Then the Rams spent their highest draft pick in a decade on the future heir to Stafford’s throne, Alabama’s Ty Simpson. Many wondered why they didn’t invest more in what was appearing to be an all-in push.
Their stance was that a contending roster was already set.
They are not the only ones feeling that way.
The Rams are the betting favorites to win the Super Bowl on every major sports betting platform. They are +700 on FanDuel, +800 on DraftKings and BetMGM and have a 10 percent chance to win on Kalshi.
The margin of error is worth noticing, too, though: Tied for second-best odds on FanDuel, DraftKings, BetMGM and Kalshi are the defending-champion Seattle Seahawks, and the San Francisco 49ers have the fifth-best odds on FanDuel. Both NFC West foes won at least 12 games last season.
Whereas many expected Los Angeles to spend the No. 13 pick on a position of apparent need, such as wide receiver or linebacker, the Rams deployed the long view. They saw themselves in the rare position of being able to afford a draft-and-stash selection with future upside.
They saw their list of needs as depth-related. They took Ohio State tight end Max Klare in the second round, versatile Missouri offensive lineman Keagan Trost in the third, Miami wide receiver CJ Daniels in the sixth and Alabama nose tackle Tim Keenan III in the seventh.
The primary reason the Rams felt they could go with a quarterback at No. 13 was they spent another first-round pick, No. 29, on the one position they did see as a gigantic need. They traded that pick and three other selections to the Kansas City Chiefs for All-Pro Trent McDuffie, who will start at one outside cornerback spot. Then they signed McDuffie’s counterpart from the Chiefs, Jaylen Watson.
“I don’t know if it’s as much about the coverage as much as their willingness to put their face on people,” Rams coach Sean McVay said. “I think the game honors toughness.”
Now, the Rams have a defense that might not have a real weakness. The one spot they didn’t address that offered upgrade potential was weakside linebacker, and coverage on tight ends remains a concern. But they saw that spot as the one they rely on the least. Top linebacker Nate Landman will play in what should again be a league-high usage of dime sets (32.4 percent in 2025, with no other team above 24 percent), tapping into a safeties group of Quentin Lake, Kam Curl, Kam Kinchens and Jaylen McCollough.
The Rams didn’t see their defensive roster as far away, despite last season’s second-half regression. In addition to help at outside cornerback, they needed a closer. Now, McDuffie is here to be a solution to both.
Whether that can happen could come down to how the Rams insulate and deploy him. Opponents can avoid one playmaking outside cornerback if the other corner or the safeties are liabilities, which made signing Watson and re-signing Curl high-priority follow-up moves.
The model will require a more consistent pass rush than the Rams had in last year’s postseason, when Jared Verse, Byron Young and Kobie Turner combined for one sack in three games. Part of that consistency could come from stronger coverage forcing quarterbacks to hold the ball. Part could come from better health for Young, who battled a knee injury in the playoffs; or a step from second-year linebacker Josaiah Stewart, whose 17.3 percent pressure rate placed just above Young (15 percent) and just behind Verse (17.5 percent) but came on just 154 pass-rushing snaps, according to Sports Info Solutions.
The goal with McDuffie will be to keep him from being in predictable and avoidable spots. That’s where his ability to perform as an All-Pro on the outside as well as in the nickel spot intrigued the Rams enough to make him the highest-paid cornerback in NFL history ($31 million per season).
Lake is at his best as a primary nickel. But to make use of Lake’s three-year, $38.3 million extension, the Rams also need to get him in more disguised spots, which means rotating to free and strong safety at times. Putting McDuffie at nickel, with Emmanuel Forbes Jr. seeing some outside reps, could allow that possibility.
“Like I told them when they’re like, ‘Where do you want to play?’ I’m like, ‘Put me in a position where we succeed and I’m ready to go,’” McDuffie said. “I’m definitely excited to do some unique things.”
Of course, the Rams’ other glaring weakness in 2025 was special teams, which played a key factor in five of their six losses. They believe they have their kicking game worked out with Ethan Evans and Harrison Mevis, and they signed cover man Grant Stuard and long snapper Joe Cardona. But it will really be on new coordinator Bubba Ventrone to develop the back end of the roster into a cleaner product.
Ultimately, much of the Rams’ contender model this year will come down to health, particularly on offense. They benefited from strong injury luck for the most part last season, particularly with running backs Kyren Williams and Blake Corum, who each played 17 games and combined for 404 carries at the game’s most brutal position. Los Angeles drafted Jarquez Hunter in the fourth round last year to stash for when Williams or Corum gets hurt.
But if Stafford, who is 38 and is managing a degenerative back issue, gets injured, the Rams have to be confident Simpson can step in and deliver in high-stakes games. They were ready to draft Simpson even if they re-signed Jimmy Garoppolo this offseason, a team source told The Athletic, because that’s how much they value a backup quarterback on a team where Stafford will take time off in the summer to manage his back.
The Rams got 14 games out of Davante Adams and 16 from Puka Nacua, as Adams led the league in touchdown catches and Nacua led in receptions. But their four combined games missed showcased limitations at times, too, when none of their backup receivers appeared ready for a high-volume role the offense was designed for. Los Angeles countered for an early Nacua injury by becoming the league’s top team in two- and three-tight end sets, and it is banking on that model again after re-signing Tyler Higbee and drafting Klare in the second round.
Still, when it comes to finding the gear needed to beat other contenders in the playoffs, the Rams will need Stafford to maintain enough of his MVP form at age 38, Adams to repeat enough of his touchdown-leader play at 33 and for them and Nacua to stay mostly healthy. The potential for regression is real for an aging core after leading the league in points scored.
To limit the wear and tear, the Rams could lean more into a run game that saw a Year 2 jump from Corum, and they’ll hope for a similar Year 2 leap from Terrance Ferguson at tight end.
The biggest question remains at wide receiver, where Jordan Whittington, Konata Mumpfield, Daniels or Xavier Smith will need to be more ready than their secondary options presented last season.
But the Rams also didn’t see the draft as their final shot to insulate a Super Bowl-favorite roster. They saw the Simpson pick as a move to free up their 2027 selections, or the ones teams keep asking for ahead of a potentially loaded quarterback draft, a team source told The Athletic. They have between now and October’s trade deadline to measure the third wide receiver battle, Ferguson’s growth and the second linebacker spot. The key will be making a sharp read on the state of the team just one-third into the season.
The Rams are walking a tightrope between the present and the future. They’re eyeing another Super Bowl at SoFi Stadium, knowing they have the potential to get there — and the expectation to do so, as well.
znModerator…backup quarterback Stetson Bennett couldn’t be in a better position. Despite the selection of Ty Simpson by the Los Angeles Rams, Bennett’s future with the franchise remains as bright as ever. While one would think the selection of Simpson has eliminated any chance for Bennett to start during the regular season, the reality is that Bennett was never going to get that opportunity anyway.
Bennett is likely a career backup. The thing is, he still possesses some of that magic that won Georgia two National Championships, as he made evident in the last two preseasons. If this were last season, Bennett would have needed Matthew Stafford and Jimmy Garoppolo to suffer injuries in order to come into a game. However, Simpson isn’t the guaranteed No. 2 quarterback behind Stafford.
The McVay offense is a complex system to learn. Simpson is a smart player but he’s also human. Bennett has been in the system and has had real game experience in McVay’s offense – albeit in the preseason. There’s no reason to say that Simpson is the automatic backup. McVay said after the draft that Simpson will have to compete with Bennett to earn the No. 2 spot.
znModeratorRams TE play. Loved Ernie Conwell!!! pic.twitter.com/RQ22JKNasM
— RAMZILLA (@elitster) May 20, 2026
znModeratorznModeratorIt requires believing that the NFL is open to suggestions from teams, and doesn’t consider the implications of the requests.
That’s bullshit. It’s bullshit.
!!!
😮
Board war!
znModeratorfrom Regrading 2023 NFL Draft
Pete Prisco
https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/regrading-2023-nfl-draft/
…
It always takes three years to truly grade a draft, so I always go back and do a regrade of the teams and myself based on my initial draft grades.
Sometimes the teams look bad. Sometimes I do. Sometimes we both do in terms of the same evaluations and, yes, there are times when we both even get it right.
As it relates to the 2023 drafts for the Rams and Seahawks, they both look great right now. In fact, after giving them solid grades immediately after the draft, the new grade for both is A+.
…
Los Angeles Rams
2023 grade: BThe skinny: They had 14 picks in the draft and five of them are starters with the best of them being fifth-round receiver Puka Nacua. He has proven to be a star and a steal. They also got starters in guard Steve Avila (second), defensive linemen Byron Young and Kobie Turner in the third and right tackle Warren McClendon in the fifth. Backup tight end Davis Allen also came in the fifth. Backup quarterback Stetson Bennett came in the fourth.
How I did: I thought Avila was their best pick and Bennett was their worst. I went on to say how much I liked their draft, mentioning Young as a player I liked. I thought it was the type of draft to help overhaul the roster, which it did. I didn’t mention Nacua, which means I missed on him like the rest of the league.
New grade: A+
znModeratorSean McVay wished he handled the Jared Goff trade differently pic.twitter.com/3JgisoCpc0
— Bussin' With The Boys (@BussinWTB) May 19, 2026
znModeratorNFL Stats@NFL_Stats
Players on the #Rams with the highest 2026 cap hits:QB Matthew Stafford – $48.3M
WR Davante Adams – $28.0M
LT Alaric Jackson – $25.4M
OG Kevin Dotson – $17.4M
S Quentin Lake – $11.7M
RB Kyren Williams – $11.6M
DL Poona Ford – $11.4M
CB Trent McDuffie – $10.8M
C Coleman Shelton – $9.5MznModerator83 percent against the Packers? 79 percent against the Bills? 63 percent against the Eagles?
81 percent against the Chargers? 61 percent against the Broncos? 76 percent against Shanahan?The guy iz nutz.
w
vYeah those numbers are pretty low.
Yet, beware–any given Sunday, those teams could squeak out wins.
znModeratorCameron DaSilva@camdasilva
ESPN’s Mike Clay gives the Rams a win probability of at least 57% for every game this season, projecting them for an NFL-high 13.2 winsAll despite a grueling schedule
…
…the Rams have the highest projected win total in the NFL, according to ESPN. Analyst Mike Clay projects the Rams to win 13.2 games in his 2026 forecast, while also assigning win probabilities to each contest on the upcoming schedule.
Despite their remarkably tough schedule, the Rams still have a win probability of better than 50% in each of their 17 games. Their lowest win probability is in Week 16 on the road against the Seahawks, where they still have a 57% chance to win, according to Clay.
Below is the Rams’ win probability for each game, as well as the projected score in parentheses.
Week 1 vs. 49ers: 76% (29.2-21.7)
Week 2 vs. Giants: 90% (31.0-17.7)
Week 3 at Broncos: 61% (24.5-21.3)
Week 4 at Eagles: 62% (25.2-21.8)
Week 5 vs. Bills: 79% (32.5-23.8)
Week 6 vs. Cardinals: 96% (33.2-14.3)
Week 7 at Raiders: 90% (29.6-16.5)
Week 8 vs. Chargers: 81% (29.5-20.3)
Week 9 at Commanders: 84% (31.1-20.5)
Week 10 at Cardinals: 93% (31.1-16.4)
Week 11: Bye
Week 12 vs. Packers: 83% (29.5-19.6)
Week 13 vs. Chiefs: 80% (28.8-19.8)
Week 14 at 49ers: 69% (28.2-22.8)
Week 15 vs. Cowboys: 78% (31.0-22.7)
Week 16 at Seahawks: 57% (24.5-22.5)
Week 17 at Buccaneers: 74% (27.4-20.4)
Week 18 vs. Seahawks: 71% (26.5-20.4)znModeratorFormer U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Netanyahu:
He told me in July 2009 that the Iranian regime was fragile and would crumble at the first attack.
I told him then he was dead wrong — that he was underestimating the resilience of the Iranians.
This is what he's been… pic.twitter.com/JinGXXf4Oa
— Clash Report (@clashreport) May 17, 2026
znModeratorSince the union of Snead and Head coach Sean McVay, the Rams have consistently put together top-tier rosters and coached them up to a nine-year, regular season record of 92-52. That’s a 64 percent win rate, solidified by seven trips to the post season and two Super Bowl berths.
With 87 players currently under contract for OTAs, here’s a review of the 2026 roster’s lineage and their draft pedigree. First for context, how they all got to L.A.:
77% of Rams are home-grown
3.5% arrived via trade
11.5% signed in preseason free agency
5.5% picked up as in-season free agents
3.5% were waiver claims/poaches
And their draft pedigree:
11.5% drafted early in Rounds 1 and 2
22% taken in the mid rounds, 3, 4, and 5
17% selected late, Rounds 6 and 7
49.5% signed as undrafted free agents
If the Rams did not draft a player, his original team is in parentheses.
Round 1 (5)
QB Matthew Stafford (Detroit Lions), CB Trent McDuffie (Kansas City Chiefs), CB Emmanuel Forbes (Washington Commanders), E Jared Verse, QB Ty SimpsonRound 2 (5)
WR Davante Adams (Green Bay Packers), G Steve Avila, DT Braden Fiske, TE Terrance Ferguson, TE Max KlareRound 3 (6)
E Byron Young, DT Kobie Turner, RB Blake Corum, S Kamren Kinchens, E Josiah Stewart, T/G Keegan TrostRound 4 (6)
TE Tyler Higbee, G Kevin Dotson (Pittsburgh Steelers), TE Colby Parkinson (Seattle Seahawks), QB Stetson Bennett, RB Jarquez Hunter, WR Tyler Scott (Chicago Bears)Round 5 (7)
LS Joe Cardona (New England Patriots), DT Larell Murchison (Tennessee Titans), RB Kyren Williams, T Warren McClendon, TE Davis Allen, WR Puka Nacua, DT Ty HamiltonRound 6 (7)
T David Quessenberry (Houston Texans), S Quentin Lake, C Dylan McMahon (Philadelphia Eagles), DT Tyler Davis, WR Jordan Whittington, C/G Beaux Limmer, WR CJ DanielsRound 7 (8)
S Kamren Curl (Washington Commanders), Jaylen Watson (Kansas City Chiefs), T AJ Arcuri, ILB Grant Stuard (Tampa Bay Buccaneers), P Ethan Evans, E Desjuan Johnson, WR Konata Mumpfield, DT Tim KeenanUDFA (37 home-grown)
T Alaric Jackson, E Keir Thomas, WR Xavier Smith, G Justin Dedich, S Tanner Ingle, CB Cam Lampkin, S Jaylen McCollough, ILB Elias Neal, ILB Omar Speights, S/CB Josh Wallace, G Wyatt Bowles, ILB Shaun Dolac, WR Tru Edwards, DT Bill Norton, WR Brennan Presley, TE Mark Redman, S Nate Valcarcel, RB Jordan Waters, WR Mario Williams S Nick Anderson, E Wesley Bailey, C/G Austin Blaaske. QB Matthew Caldwell, RB Dean Conners, CB Nyzier Fourqurean, CB Al’zillion Hamilton, T Bryce Henderson, ILB Nikhai Hill-Green, TE Rohan Jones, C Chad Lindberg, DT Jalen Logan-Redding, DT Jaxson Moi, CB Drey Norwood, E Darryl Peterson, TE Dan Villari, E Eddie Walls, Payton ZdroikUDFA (6 from outside)
C Coleman Shelton (San Francisco 49ers),`DT Poona Ford (Seattle Seahawk), RB Ronnie Rivers (Arizona Cardinals), Nate Landman (Atlanta Falcons), Harrison Meevis (Carolina Panthers), CB Alex Johnson (New York Giants)Where the outsiders came from
By trade
CB Trent McDuffie from Kansas City 2026, G Kevin Dotson from Pittsburgh 2023, Matthew Stafford from Detroit 2021
Preseason free agents
Jaylen Watson 2026, Grant Stuard 2026, Joe Cardona 2026, Poona Ford 2025, Coleman Shelton 2025 (2nd time), Davante Adams 2025, Nate Landman 2025, David Quessenberry 2025, Kamren Curl 2024, Colby Parkinson 2024
In season free agents
Harrison Meevis 2025, Tyler Scott 2025, Alex Johnson 2025, Coleman Shelton 2019 (1st time), Ronnie Rivers 2022
Waiver claim or poach
Dylan McMahon 2024, Emmanuel Forbes 2024, Larrell Muchison 2022
Tough to climb the depth chart
While there is no official reporting, the way the Rams navigated the offseason roster building process hints at a couple of things. Snead/McVay seem quite content with the 2026 roster after shoring up the glaring cornerback weakness from last year. And they also likely felt, like many other experts, that the talent level in this years draft was down.
For the second straight year, L.A. seemed to pinpoint particular players and were satisfied with a small group. After averaging 10 draftees per year over their first eight seasons together, Snead/McVay have selected only 11 total in the past two.
The Snead/McVay roster confidence doesn’t bode well for this years UDFA class, Barring catastrophe, with 40+ likely locks, roster openings could be as few as five or six. It would make sense that Stetson Bennett will be needed as QB insurance and the Rams did not bring in much competition for Xavier Smith at punt returner.
While the Rams have leaned heavily on UDFAs in the past, it’s a sign of good team building to keep their numbers around 10 players.
znModeratorM. Stafford’s MVP season came with the use of 13 psnl. Using 4 TE rotation.
The Max Klare pick makes more sense when consider this (and expiring contracts, etc)
Klare is very polished as a receiver & route runner. lines up as WR to create mismatch. A terrific athlete at 6’5 245 pic.twitter.com/6tmRMxQ76s
— RAMS ON FILM (@RamsOnFilm) May 2, 2026
znModeratorThe Cardinals are currently listed as an underdog in all 17 of their games this season, including 1.5-point underdogs at home vs. the Jets in Week 15 😳 @DKSports pic.twitter.com/TMvc6akBEE
— ESPN BET (@ESPNBET) May 15, 2026
znModeratorWhen a Crow feels sick, it goes to an Ant nest and deliberately disturbs it. The Ants get angry and start climbing on the Crow.
But the Crow doesn't move. It stays still with its
wings open. The Ants then spray formic acid on the Crow. This acid helps remove germs and fungi,… pic.twitter.com/spehZXUGBL— Manoco (@Moonlighhy) May 15, 2026
znModeratorznModeratorThey were both born in 1992. https://t.co/1fLKcopAP3
— Rams Bros. (@RamsBrothers) May 16, 2026
znModeratorBetween the Horns: Discussing the Rams' 2026 Schedule + more with @MJD, @JB_Long + @Camwin11 » https://t.co/f7SSoBdbjc pic.twitter.com/oa6ZkRqKED
— Los Angeles Rams (@RamsNFL) May 15, 2026
znModeratorJimEverett@Jimeverett
There’s definitely proof of aliens, and I’ve definitely seen a few. The ones I know are Lawrence Taylor, Reggie White & Aaron Donald.znModeratorThe NFL obviously loves the @RamsNFL as a marquee attraction. But based on their schedule, it's a fine line between love and something else.
My thoughts on the most daunting schedule I've ever seen:https://t.co/vukYMaEgEh
— Vincent Bonsignore (@VinnyBonsignore) May 16, 2026
znModeratorRams have lost four in a row to the Eagles.
Rams have lost five in a row to the Packers.
Apparently both teams know how to deal with McVay.
“Nuts!”
From the 1949 film “Battleground,” which is about the siege of Bastogne during WW2.
German Lieutenant: The major thinks General McAuliffle must have misunderstood. We have appealed to the well-known American humanity to save the people of Bastogne from further suffering. We have given you two hours to consider before raining destruction upon you. We do not understand General McAuliffe’s answer.
American Colonel: I’d be glad to repeat it. The answer is “nuts”.
German Lieutenant: [discusses with German major] Is that a negative or an affirmative reply?
American Colonel: Nuts is strictly negative.znModeratorOn some of the not-Rams:
49ers’ travel coordinators
The Niners are traveling a league-high 38,105 projected miles this season, according to Bookies.com. That’s 3,258 more miles than the second-place Rams and 9,635 more than the third-place Texans — or more than the Bears, Browns and Panthers are traveling combined all season. The 49ers travel 20,000 more miles than each of 14 other teams will.
Those numbers are grossly inflated by a 15,738-mile trek to Melbourne to play the “host” Rams; that trip alone is longer than 11 teams’ total travel all season. It also doesn’t help the cause that their fourth-longest trip is for a “home” game in Mexico City, as the Niners travel 3,854 miles for that excursion.
Tough slate and long trips
The Patriots, Los Angeles Chargers and Dolphins are the only three teams ranked in both the top-10 of projected travel miles and strength of schedule, which is determined by opponents’ winning percentage in 2025.
The Patriots travel the fifth-most miles (27,590) and play the sixth-toughest schedule (.531). The Chargers travel the seventh-most miles (24,816) and play the ninth-toughest schedule (.522). The Dolphins travel the sixth-most miles (27,568) and play the second-toughest schedule (.542).
The Dolphins are starting a rebuild with a historic amount of dead salary-cap space, so they were already looking at a challenging year. But the Patriots are coming off a Super Bowl appearance and the Chargers have been to the playoffs in both years of coach Jim Harbaugh’s tenure, so each team is a candidate for a backslide.
znModeratorfrom Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=122113043865271245&set=a.122097918195271245
The Lonely Camp
In the fall of 1948, the Idaho Department of Fish and Game loaded seventy-six live beavers into airplanes and parachuted them into the backcountry wilderness of the Chamberlain Basin. Every single beaver survived the drop.
The problem that led to this was straightforward. Idaho had too many beavers in the agricultural lowlands where they were damming irrigation ditches and flooding fields, and not enough beavers in the remote high-country watersheds where their dams would actually be useful for erosion control and water management. The obvious solution was relocation. Trap the nuisance beavers, move them to the backcountry, let them do what beavers do. The problem was getting them there.
The Chamberlain Basin is deep wilderness. No roads. No vehicle access. The standard method was to strap live beavers onto pack mules and ride them in over multi-day trail routes through the summer heat. A beaver is a forty-pound animal built for cold water. Its body is insulated with dense fur and a thick fat layer designed to maintain core temperature in near-freezing streams. That same insulation system works in reverse on a dry, hot trail. The beavers overheated on the pack animals and died in transit. The mortality rate was high enough that the relocation program was failing before it started.
An Idaho Fish and Game officer named Elmo Heter proposed an alternative that his supervisors probably thought was a joke until he demonstrated that it worked. He wanted to drop the beavers out of airplanes on surplus military parachutes.
Heter acquired a stockpile of rayon parachutes left over from World War II and engineered a wooden crate specifically for the job. The box was designed with a mechanical latch system that stayed clamped shut as long as the parachute lines were under tension during descent. The moment the crate hit the ground and the lines went slack, the latches released and the box fell apart, freeing the beaver. No human needed to be on the ground to open it. The beaver walked out on its own.
Before scaling the operation, Heter needed proof of concept. He selected a mature male beaver, named him Geronimo, loaded him into the crate, loaded the crate into a plane, and dropped him over an open airfield.
The parachute deployed. The crate descended. It hit the dirt. The latches released. Geronimo walked out into the grass and stood there. Uninjured. Not panicked. Heter loaded him back into the crate and dropped him again. Then again. Geronimo survived every test drop without a fracture, without visible distress, and apparently without holding it against anyone. A beaver’s skeleton is dense and compact, built to absorb impact from falling trees and collapsing bank dens. The fat layer that killed them on the pack mules functioned as shock absorption on landing. The animal was structurally overbuilt for exactly the kind of short, sharp impact that a parachute drop produces.
With the concept proven, the operation went live in the fall of 1948. Seventy-six beavers were loaded into twin-engine aircraft and dropped over the Chamberlain Basin in individual parachute crates. Geronimo went on the first flight, boxed with three young females. He hit the ground, walked out of the crate for the last time, and started working. Subsequent surveys by game wardens confirmed that Geronimo and the airdropped beavers had established functional dams on the local streams and built a permanent breeding colony in the basin.
Seventy-six beavers were thrown out of airplanes in wooden boxes on surplus military parachutes into roadless wilderness, and the operation had a near-perfect survival rate. One beaver died during the entire program when its crate opened prematurely in the air. Every other animal landed, walked out, and got to work. Heter published the results in the Journal of Wildlife Management in 1950. The paper includes a photograph of Geronimo exiting his crate on the airfield, looking exactly like a forty-pound rodent that has been dropped out of a plane multiple times and has no strong feelings about it.
Source: Idaho Department of Fish and Game Archives / “Transplanting Beavers by Airplane and Parachute” (Elmo Heter, 1950)
znModerator"The first two years they still talk about it"
The Rams were trying to get Aaron Donald to come out of retirement, but he's completely done with football pic.twitter.com/RLlDDjKLdV
— Not Just Football (@NotJustFootball) May 14, 2026
***
Donald is happily retired and has no interest in coming back, but that didn’t stop the Rams from talking to him about that possibility for two years.
Donald revealed on the “Not Just Football” podcast that the Rams talked to him about coming back for “the first two years.” But he says Sean McVay knew where he was at, and that the two of them talked.
“I’m going to say the first two years, they would still be talking that talk about it,” Donald said. “But it kind of quieted down because he kind of know where I’m at. That’s my guy. We had, we talked. So he kind of knows where I’m at with it.”
znModeratorKirk Cousins details how Seahawks’ L.O.B. and ‘Dark Side’ defenses differ
There are lots of similarities between the Seattle Seahawks’ “Legion of Boom” and “Dark Side” defenses.
Kirk Cousins: What makes Seahawks’ defense so hard to face
Both propelled the Seahawks to the NFL mountaintop, with the L.O.B. hoisting the Lombardi Trophy in February 2014 and the Dark Side doing the same this past February.
And both stamped themselves as the NFL’s premier defense, with the L.O.B. boasting the league’s top-ranked scoring defense for four straight seasons from 2012-15 and the Dark Side following suit with the league’s top-ranked scoring defense this past season.
But from a schematic perspective, the two defenses were starkly different.
Few know that better than four-time Pro Bowl quarterback Kirk Cousins. Cousins faced the Pete Carroll-era Seahawks a combined six times between 2014 and 2021 with Washington and the Minnesota Vikings, and then faced the Mike Macdonald-era Hawks each of the past two seasons with the Atlanta Falcons.
Cousins, who’s now with the Las Vegas Raiders, detailed the differences between the two Seahawks defenses during a wide-ranging conversation last week on Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk.
The L.O.B. defense
As Cousins explained, the Legion of Boom-era Seahawks ran a relatively simple scheme. But even though opposing offenses knew what to predict, it usually didn’t matter, as the L.O.B.’s otherworldly collection of talent was simply that superior.
“You knew the call before you broke the huddle,” Cousins said. “It was gonna be spot drop, 3-4 under, with a carry side and a spot drop side. It was gonna be five guys on the line of scrimmage. You’re gonna get Kam Chancellor usually down in the box, Earl Thomas in the post. Sherman was gonna play on top and outside at corner. … And you knew Cliff Avril and Michael Bennett were gonna be screaming off the edge when you got in pass down situations.
“It was very straightforward,” he added. “It was just hard to attack. … I’ve always said the biggest flex is to to say, here we are, do your best. When everybody knows where you’re going to be and you still can’t beat it, that’s pretty tough. That’s pretty humbling.”
The Dark Side defense
Meanwhile, Seattle’s current defense features a cutting-edge scheme under Macdonald that’s difficult for opposing quarterbacks to decipher.
“I think it starts certainly with reading coverage, and they make it muddy,” Cousins said. “Late in the play, it can still look very similar, one coverage to another. If I know it’s gonna be single-high man, that may dictate that I work a certain place on the field. But if it’s a different coverage – quarters let’s say – then I may work a totally different place on the field.
“So if you can make single-high man and quarters – which are reasonably different coverages – look the same as long as possible in the down, the quarterback doesn’t know whether he should be going left or should be going right. And if you can create that unsettledness in the quarterback’s eyes and mind, then advantage defense.
“So I think Mike just has done a good job coaching his safeties, coaching his secondary, to maintain that unsettledness for the quarterback throughout the game and marrying different coverages. … Even after snapping the ball, (you’re like), I still don’t really know what you’re going to do here.”
Which is tougher to face?
So, which Seahawks defense was harder to face? The L.O.B. or the Dark Side?
Cousins sidestepped answering that question, and instead pointed to one of the commonalities between the two iconic units.
“I’ve always said, if you can take away explosives and make offenses earn it on the short gains over and over and over – and there really are no freebies, no easy plays throughout the game – those are the hardest defenses to go against, where it’s going to be hard-earned for four quarters,” Cousins said.
“And I think in both cases, those defenses took away the explosives.”
-
AuthorPosts
