https://www.latimes.com/sports/rams...pp-rob-havenstein-kyren-williams-tyler-higbee

Rams coach Sean McVay and general manager Les Snead have said publicly that working on an extension for the Rams running back was among offseason priorities.

Does Williams want to remain with the Rams?

“Heck yeah,” Williams said Thursday at the Super Bowl’s media center. “I don’t want to go play for anybody else besides the Los Angeles Rams, coach McVay, under Les Snead and just around all my teammates I’ve been with the last three or four years.


“I hope that we can get that done, and I hope it doesn’t take away from all the other stuff that’s going on with the Rams, and we can get that over with and get back to focusing on ball.”


Williams’ situation is not the most pressing for a Rams team coming off a 10-7 record and NFC divisional-round loss to the Philadelphia Eagles.

Cooper Kupp, a cornerstone of McVay’s offense for most of his eight seasons, announced this week that the Rams had informed him they would seek to trade the receiver.

“It sucks,” Williams said. “It’s the nature of this business. Cooper is a guy that before I ever got to the Rams, Cooper was a pillar of the Rams and was somebody that when you think of the Rams, you think of Cooper Kupp.”


Williams said he would miss not having Kupp as a role model for how to be a professional. However, the situation also presents Williams and receiver Puka Nacua the opportunity to grow as leaders, he said.

“To be able to be that person Cooper was in the locker room for the young guys that are coming in,” he said.


The Rams also must work through quarterback Matthew Stafford’s contract situation. The 16th-year veteran has given no indication publicly that he wants to retire, and he is expected to want his contract adjusted for the second year in a row.


In the meantime, Williams will prepare for his fourth NFL season.

Williams, who will turn 25 in August, has rushed for 2,582 yards and 26 touchdowns since the Rams selected him in the fifth round of the 2022 draft out of Notre Dame.

This season, he rushed for 1,299 yards and 14 touchdowns.

“I’m excited to go back, after three years of a body of work, to really know what I’m good at, where I need to get better and continue to keep working,” he said. “I think this is going to be my best offseason. ... I’m going to go back to work and get my body right and come out next season on fire.”

This is quite the trend of having the colors of the SB teams on the logo months before the game. How do they do that?

23 yo Mark Williams is the Lakers new center. He's injury prone, but close to dominating when healthy. They gave up a lot for him though - Knecht, the last first they could trade, a pick swap, and Cam Reddish to balance salaries.

Why not?
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Posted by Anna Marie

I think undoubtedly WR will be a priority now.

Do they go for Higgins or Godwin?

Or do we now use this first pick on WR?

Zak Kromer already took over as TE coach.He was also IMO a better TE coach than Thomas Brown.

Kromer was been a big part of The Rams O’Line helping TE’s & WR in there blocking schemes as well. There isn’t much hype around him as a Rams Coach from outsiders.

Sean Mcvay will put his Trust into Kromer and another Rams Coach climbing up The Sean Mcvay Coaching Tree.

Thomas Brown took over as HC for The Bears Now with The Pats as pass game Coordinator & TE’s coach.

Who are the players not getting enough talk right now?
Who do the Rams draft late at 192, 203, 204? *pick projections from NFL Mock Draft Database

A lot of the players mentioned last year in this thread ended up rising significantly but were being slept on in February.

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The NFL mock draft database mentioned above has the tackle from Cincinnati (John Williams) ranked at 366 overall currently. His footwork, hand use and balance at the East-West game were impressive.

The Rams exceeded 30 points only once in 2024. It was good enough to get us on the cusp of the NFC Championship, but we need more offensive firepower than that.

It depends on what we do in free agency, but we need more offense one way or another.

Players will rise and fall along the draft board as we get closer to the draft with workouts and prodays and the normal rumor mill. The Rams can and will create cap space as needed with this free agency. Also I'm trying to not grab free agents others have signed or draft the same players but it'll happen. There have been some really interesting free agents and some draft picks I love but trying for a little variety.

Free Agency:

Re-sign:

Alaric Jackson. I think he gets a 3 year deal around market value in the low $20 million range play with the numbers as you like.
Akhello Witherspoon. Gets a 2 year deal for what will end up a battle at CB2/CB3
Neville Gallimore resigned for depth along the front line.

DeMarcus Robinson. Keeping a vet that has done well as a 3rd or 4th and knows the offense.

McDermott, Murchison and McMahon all resigned for depth at the minimum.

Sign:

Chavarius Ward CB Niners. Estimates I've seen range from $15-18 million a year to come in as our CB1. I'm not interested in Greenlaw but bringing Ward in to be CB1 is a win.

Jamien Sherwood ILB NYJ. For those that are fans of the site PFF likes this guy a lot. He's good in coverage, most places I've seen has him as a top 5 coverage ILB, and at tackling. He's got sideline to sideline range. Size will be a concern to some but his time starting in NY has been good. Here's a brief clip of Baldy talking about him.

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Justin Skule OT Tampa Bay

Skule is a veteran swing tackle. He's started both OT positions and done it well in Tampa and SF over the last 5 years. He's a vet presence behind AJax and Big Rob and shouldn't break the bank.

Draft:

Rams trade pick Round 1 pick 26 and Round 6 pick 26 to New England (moving up for an OT) for Round 2 pick 6(38) and Round 3 pick 13(77)

Round 2 pick 6(38) the Rams select:
Deone Walker NT Kentucky
Massive man at 6'7" 340 lbs to come in and play between Fiske and Turner. This is a spot that completely changes our defense. Here is a breakdown of him at the Senior Bowl.

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Round 3 pick 13(77) the Rams select:
Mason Taylor TE LSU
This is a loaded TE class and the rankings of them can fluctuate and this might be too late for him but with Arroyo and Gadson rising we could see Taylor fall in to our lap. Great hands good size and a chain mover.

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Round 3 pick 26(90) the Rams select:
Hollin Pierce OT Rutgers
Stealing this one obviously, a massive swing OT to develop and could end up being the heir to Big Rob.

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Round 3 pick 36(100) the Rams select:
Tory Horton WR Colorado St. Tall skinny X receiver with 4.45 speed. One of the better X in the draft at tracking the ball combine that with good short area acceleration and he's a dangerous X to add to the TE's and Puka/Kupp.

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Round 4 pick 25(126) the Rams select:
Bhayshul Tuten RB Virginia Tech
Here's our game changer RB. At 5'11" 209 lbs he is every bit as fast as his 4.32 40 time. Will need to grow as a pass blocker but he's RB3 behind Williams and Corum. Also could see time in the return game.

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Round 6 pick 14(192) the Rams select:
Tommi Hill CB Nebraska
One of the ways they could create some more cap space is to release DK so I'm adding another young CB to the room. Hill a WR converted to CB has had some huge hype at times but seems to settle in around the 200 pick range in most all projections. More of a zone CB he's likely a PS guy or ST guy with time to develop.

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Round 6 pick 25(203) the Rams select:
QB Taylor Elgersma Laurier
Wasn't on many draft boards prior to the Senior Bowl and he was very impressive here. Truly don't know much about him but I can see the Rams picking a day 3 QB up this year so why not?

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Have at it! Added a NT to take the front 7 to another level with a veteran ILB behind him. A CB1 along with another young guy for the room. Added an X WR we all know is needed, at TE to help Higs move the chains, a game changing RB along with the future RT and a vet swing tackle. I really got there to the 3rd round and at this point it's hard to tell who will or won't be there and what direction I wanted to go. Initially I was thinking pick 77 was going to be a CB but signing Ward changed that and allowed to focus on the offense.

"Here's the f---ing deal, OK? We can sit here and exist, and be OK winning nine to 11 games, and losing in the f---ing divisional round and feel like, 'Oh, everything's OK.' Or, we could let our motherf---ing nuts hang, and go trade for this f---ing quarterback, and give ourselves a chance to go win a f---ing world championship. You ready to f---ing do this or what?" Sean McVay on trading for Stafford.

Click to expand...

With one or two years left with Stafford, the Rams choose once again to let their ‘motherf---ing nuts hang’ and go for it. They pull out the credit card and make several bold moves to go all in for 2025 and 2026.

CUT

Parkinson (save $3.167m)
Derion Kendrick (save $3.325m)

RESTRUCTURE

Stafford (brings this year's guaranteed money up to $42m; save $7m on the cap)

RESIGN

Alaric Jackson (extend 4 years, $72m; $10m 1st year cap hit)

I opt to extend rather than franchise tag Jackson because we’ve seen enough to know that, while not an elite LT, he’s more than adequate and rapidly improving. His 2024 tape was much improved over prior years.

Ahkello Witherspoon (1 year, $4m)

Dylan McMahon (ERFA)

Jimmy Garoppolo (1 year, $7m) The Rams need to plan for the future at QB at some point, but they're in win now mode, so the young QB castoffs and draft picks are too risky for the backup QB position. Instead, they opt for the vet QB who ran the offense well in week 18 with backups against Seattle's starters. The future can wait another year.

FREE AGENCY

CB, D.J. Reed (4 years, $81m; $12m 1st year cap hit)

Our secondary was a weakness for the majority of the year. No one could match up with the other team’s #1 WR. Reed can do that. He’s consistently been a leader in top metrics for coverage skills over the last 4 years. And he’s strong in run support. He will be the best CB we’ve had since Ramsey.

WR, Tee Higgins (3 years, $84m; $14.5m 1st year cap hit)

McVay has been trying to fill the X WR position for some time, without success. They’ve been very successful at drafting WRs that fit the Kupp/Nacua mold but haven’t hit in the draft on other types. So they turn to free agency to solve the problem. He already knows the offense since Taylor comes from McVay’s tree. There is some risk involved here because he’s had some injury issues, but it’s a justifiable risk for win-now mode.

LB, Eric Kendricks (2 years, $10m; $3.5m 1st year cap hit)

Kendricks is a 10-year vet, former all-pro, who is still playing at a high level despite being 32. Per PFF, he was tied for 7th in run stops last year. He won’t be expensive due to his age. While we opt to go cheap here and spend the money instead at the premium CB and WR positions, we still upgrade the position over last year.

DL, Calais Campbell (1 year, $4.5m)

Big-bodied run stuffer to replace BBIII. He’s old but still effective.


TRADES

Kupp (save $12.5m) - 5th round pick - It’s a sad day. We’re losing a team leader and a quintessential Ram. Unfortunately, injuries have taken a toll and we need fresh legs in the offense in addition to the cap savings for other moves.

Darius Williams (save $6.833m) - 7th-round pick - Williams played decently last year but he has declined some since his last time wearing a Rams uniform. It’s not surprising given he’s 32. We move his contract to make room for Reed.

Trade #26 for #40 and #71 - With the acute needs addressed in free agency, Snead would like more picks. Mickey Loomis with the Saints loves trading up so it’s a match.


DRAFT (***all picks based on current rankings from the Consensus Big Board at NFL Mock Draft Database***)

#40 - CB, Trey Amos, Ole Miss - 6’1”, 190 lbs

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The Rams take a page out of the Eagles 2024 playbook and go get two great CBs. Amos has great length, is physical and scrappy, and has great ball skills. He’s a fit for our system since he excels in zone concepts. With Amos and Reed, we’d have great coverage to go with our excellent pass rush.

#71 - WR, Xavier Restrepo, Miami - 5’10”, 197 lbs

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Restrepo’s strengths are superb short-area quickness, great route running, elite hands, and high IQ. He understands the nuances of separation and is a tough runner after the catch. Willing blocker. He’s not a burner so he wouldn’t threaten deep but he excels in the short and intermediate ranges. He would be a good replacement for Kupp.

90 - TE, Elijah Arroyo, Miami - 6’4”, 245 lbs

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Vertical weapon, great hands, high football IQ. He played in the slot and inline. After the catch he’s a major threat. Per PFF, he was tied for 4th best in the nation for YAC at 9.1. He’s a decent pass protector and is a willing run blocker but could use refinement in that aspect.

100 - RB, Dylan Sampson, Tennessee - 5’11”, 200 lbs

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Elite suddenness, great contact balance, great vision. A home run hitter who ran a 4.32 40 in high school. Like most college backs, he needs refinement in pass protection. He’d pair well with Kyren and Corum and add an explosive element to the offense.

126 - WR, Pat Bryant, Illinois - 6’3”, 200 lbs

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Let’s add a little height to the WR room. The charge has been that we have no receiver that excels against man coverage. Enter Bryant. He’s a physical route-runner that is not bothered by contact or physicality through his route stem. He’s got a strong catch radius and is a reliable run blocker. He’s not an explosive athlete and needs to work on his release package but he has upside and can fill the backup X role.

5th (Kupp trade) - OT, Ozzy Trapilo, Boston College - 6’7”, 314 lbs

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Trapilo is a large, big-bodied lineman who has had snaps at every position along the OL but center. He’s got active feet but is not the best athlete. He’s got extensive experience in gap schemes but he can get out in space some with a zone scheme. He’ll start off as the swing tackle with the eventual goal of being Hav’s replacement.

191 - S, Jonas Sanker, Virginia - 6’0”, 205 lbs

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Sanker is alignment versatile with snaps as the nickel defender, free safety, and in the box. His best fit will be as a box safety where he excels in run support. In coverage, he’s able to stay in phase with RBs, TEs, WRs, and shallow crossers. He’s limited though when it comes to covering depth. Best in zone coverage which makes him a fit for us. I envision him as Curl’s replacement who is a free agent next year.

202 - LB, Kobe King, Penn State - 6’1”, 248 lbs

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Old-school linebacker with elite run-stopping instincts. High football IQ, commands the defense. Coverage skills need work and he doesn’t have sideline to sideline speed. He will be an early down back who would immediately help the run defense.

203 - Edge, Quandarrius Robinson, Alabama - 6’5”, 241 lbs

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He needs to add some mass but he has the frame to do it. He had an elite run-stop rate and pass-rush grade. He’s kind of raw so will need a development year.

7th (Williams trade) - DL, Cam'Ron Jackson, Florida - 6’6”, 342 lbs

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Jackson is alignment versatile with above-average movement skills for his size. He had a very high run-stop rate. He could enhance his pass-rushing repertoire and will need to do that to be an every-down player. As is, I see him in a role similar to BBIII as a run defender.



STARTING LINEUP (DEPTH)

QB: Matthew Stafford (Garoppolo)

HB Kyren Williams (Corum, Sampson)

WR: Puka Nacua
WR: Tee Higgins
WR: Xavier Restrepo

• I see Restrepo starting over Whittington but it could be the other way around. WR depth is Whittington, Pat Bryant, and Xavier Smith

TE: Tyler Higbee (Elijah Arroyo, Davis Allen)

LT: Alaric Jackson
LG: Steve Avila
C: Beaux Limmer
RG: Kevin Dodson
RT: Rob Havenstein

• Jackson will compete for a starting role with Limmer. If he’s not the starter, he’ll be a super sub in the interior.
• OL depth will be Jackson, Dylan McMahon, Justin Dedich, Ozzy Trapilo, Warren McClendon

DE: Kobie Turner
NT: Calais Campbell
DE: Braden Fiske

• DL depth: Tyler Davis, Desjuan Johnson, Cam'Ron Jackson
• Per Jake Ellenbogen: Tyler Davis had a 17.5 snaps per defensive stop ratio. In comparison, Camren Hayward, who led the league in stops, had a 17.7 snaps per stop ratio. I’m projecting Davis’ snaps to double as the primary sub.

OLB: Jared Verse (Brennan Jackson)
OLB: Byron Young (Quandarrius Robinson)

ILB: Eric Kendricks (Kobe King)
ILB: Omar Speights

• The Rams go with a bandaid at ILB with Kendricks who is 32 but still playing at a high level. A higher level than we got at the position last year so while we still need to address the future, this position is upgraded over 2024. This position would also be a strong target for UDFAs.

CB: DJ Reed
CB: Trey Amos
NCB: Quentin Lake

• I’m getting rid of Williams who’s dropped off and Kendricks who is a liability. In their place, we add premium talent that’s strong in coverage and run support.
• CB depth: Ahkthello Witherspoon, Cobie Durant, Emmanuel Forbes

FS: Kam Kinchens
SS: Kam Curl

• Curl, Lake, and Durant are 2026 free agents so we remake the secondary in free agency and the draft. With the additions, the secondary should be a strength.
• Safety depth: Jaylen McCollough, Jonas Sanker

K: Joshua Karty
P: Ethan Evans
LS: Alex Ward


Thoughts???

I don't even watch the NBA any more but still ... Holy Crap!!!

You guys played Philly the toughest out of anyone in this postseason. Washington didn’t stand a chance from the beginning. We put up somewhat of a fight but not as much as you guys. We we’re close to playing you guys in the wildcard round. We probably would have lost to you guys too. Good luck next season. I hope you guys do well. Who do you guys want to win the Superbowl?

https://www.foxsports.com.au/nfl/nf...s/news-story/8492db7c6b740ce0c10b7d4e4747a556

MCG to host blockbuster NFL clash in landmark deal to net ‘tens of millions’​

Fox Sports

The MCG will reportedly host multiple NFL regular season games starting in 2026, in a colossal coup for both fans of the sport down under and Victorian tourism.

According to the Herald Sun, the Los Angeles Rams and Philadelphia Eagles — the two franchises with Australian marketing rights — are set to face off in October next year.

It is one of ‘up to three’ NFL regular season meetings that Melbourne will open its doors to across ‘several’ years, per the report, with the high-profile events to net Victoria ‘tens of millions of dollars’.

The Rams won the Super Bowl in 2022, while Philadelphia — with star Australian offensive tackle Jordan Mailata in tow — is preparing to go toe-to-toe with back-to-back winners Kansas City in two Mondays’ time.

The NFC foes met in this year’s playoffs, with the Eagles triumphing 28-22 in the divisional round.

In another win for Victoria, the state is said to be the sole host of the matches, ruling out any possibility of games at Sydney’s Accor Stadium or Perth’s Optus Stadium.

It is understood league officials previously visited the 100,000-capacity MCG to examine whether it was a ‘suitable venue’ for games to take place.

“Anything like this is so incredibly important for continuing to grow our industry but also continuing to put Victoria on the global stage,” Victorian Tourism Industry Council chief Felicia Mariani said, via the Herald Sun.

“If these matches are in fact part of a regular season and not just friendly exhibition matches, it makes an enormous difference to the audience in the US that will watch.

“There is no sport in the world that has the attraction and the audience as NFL does in the US.”

$23,049,000 for Offensive Line

Without a new deal Alaric Jackson could potentially take up quite a bit of the 2025 cap space if they plan to keep him.

To obtain a 2nd round pick the Rams will have the obvious options of either trading back from #26 or bundling up some picks and moving up. They could also augment a pick swap by throwing in a player. Regardless of the method, it would be immensely helpful to have a 2nd round pick in this draft.
There are several TEs and WRs that could fit the Rams’ needs and surely one or more will be getting snagged in the 2nd, long before the Rams pick at the bottom of the 3rd. There’s also the issue of finding a Tackle and bigger, potential #1 CB.

To obtain what the Rams need is all the more difficult without a 2nd round pick. That’s why I’ll bet Snead makes it happen, or at least tries.

What’s your best trade scenario for landing a pick in the 2nd round? Which teams make the best target for a deal?

For example:
How would the Rams move UP a couple spots in the 1rst, only to make the pick more attractive to trade and recoup, not only some of the draft capital used to move up, but to gain a 2nd rounder in the process?

Go crazy. We have time.

Some funny stuff... definitely NSFW due to language just fyi.

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