Relative to lots of the contenders within the NFL, the Rams went through a reasonably quiet offseason. Departing coaches and veterans, returning and incoming veterans, the Rams return an identical offense in 2024 — one accompanied by a number of recent faces on defense and among the many coaching staff. The goal of one other Super Bowl stays, though, as Los Angeles attempts to challenge San Francisco for the division and, ultimately, the conference.
Free agency additions:
- Jonah Jackson, OL. Three years, $51MM ($25.5MM guaranteed)
- Colby Parkinson, TE. Three years, $22.5MM ($10.25MM guaranteed)
- Darious Williams, CB. Three years, $22.5MM ($7MM guaranteed)
- Kamren Curl, S. Two years, $9MM ($6MM guaranteed)
- Tre’Davious White, CB. One yr, $4.25MM ($3.25MM guaranteed)
- Jimmy Garoppolo, QB. One yr, $3.18MM ($3.18MM guaranteed)
While much of the offense will look the identical because it did in 2023, free agency provided almost a very different group of starters within the secondary on defense. Williams is a well-known face back in Los Angeles, returning to the Rams after two years away. The veteran cornerback first found his technique to L.A. after his initial signing with the Ravens as an undrafted free agent in 2018. A midseason cut led to Williams being claimed by the Rams, with whom he would turn out to be a full-time starter over 4 years.
Williams left for Jacksonville under a three-year, $30MM deal but was released a yr early, allowing him to return on his recent three-year contract. The 31-year-old CB’s deal, nonetheless, becomes a pay-as-you-go pact after the primary yr. That offers the Rams some protection in case Williams cannot recapture his form from his first L.A. stint.
Williams is joined in a new-look secondary by Curl and White. A former seventh-round pick with Washington, Curl became a full-time starter shortly into his rookie season. Curl hasn’t intercepted any passes since his three-pick yr in 2020, but his 53 starts in 60 games in Washington should make him perfectly able to joining John Johnson as a starter within the defensive backfield. With a torn ACL sidelining starter Derion Kendrick for the season, White (34 missed games since his Thanksgiving 2021 ACL tear) will likely be tapped as the subsequent man up, starting across from Williams.
One recent offensive starter did arrive as a free agent. After spending his entire rookie contract as a starting left guard in Detroit, Jackson will return to a task that he last played in his redshirt sophomore season at Rutgers. Jackson played guard in his final season with the Scarlet Knights and his transfer yr at Ohio State, but Los Angeles will ask him to seek out his way back to the middle of the offensive line. This recent switch will kick 2023 second-rounder Steve Avila, a guard as a rookie but a middle throughout Los Angeles’ offseason program, back to protect.
Garoppolo joins as a possible upgrade to Stetson Bennett as a backup quarterback. It’s been a little bit of a fall from grace for Garoppolo over the past few years after losing his starting jobs in San Francisco and Las Vegas, but perhaps coming right into a situation by which he knows he’s a backup will prove useful for the veteran passer. This continues a trend of Sean McVay bringing in a downward-trending starter and installing him as Matthew Stafford‘s backup.
Re-signings:
- Kevin Dotson, G. Three years, $48MM ($24MM guaranteed)
- Demarcus Robinson, WR. One yr, $4MM ($4MM guaranteed)
- Christian Rozeboom, LB. One yr, $1.4MM ($1.4MM guaranteed)
- John Johnson, S. One yr, $1.38MM ($750K guaranteed)
- Troy Reeder, LB. One yr, $1.13MM ($75K guaranteed)
The Rams acquired Dotson in a trade last yr from Pittsburgh and reaped the rewards for it. For some mid- to late-round draft swaps, Los Angeles acquired a middling guard heading into the ultimate yr of his rookie deal and saw him put forth his best season of NFL football to date. In line with Pro Football Focus (subscription required), Dotson ranked because the second-best guard within the NFL last season. Previously, the advanced metrics site had not ranked Dotson any higher than twenty eighth. The Rams joined the Panthers in shelling out big money for 2 guards on this yr’s guard-rich market.
Within the receiving corps, Cooper Kupp and Puka Nacua will receive all the eye, but Robinson returns as a high quality contributor off the bench. After quickly shipping Van Jefferson to Atlanta last season, the Rams trusted Tutu Atwell and Robinson to step up behind their star receivers as contributors. Robinson finished fourth within the receivers room in yards last yr and can push Atwell for targets after behind Kupp and Nacua again in 2024.
On defense, as we mentioned above, Johnson returns to maintain the secondary from looking completely strange from last yr’s group. Rozeboom and Reeder were each re-signed after starting five and 6 games last yr, respectively. This duo was originally set to supply supporting work on the Rams’ defensive second level, however the departure of Ernest Jones (see the Trades section below) would require the 2 to tackle greater responsibilities in 2024.
Notable losses:
The largest loss here is an obvious one, because the Rams watch a three-time Defensive Player of the Yr, 10-time Pro Bowler, and eight-time first-team All-Pro hang up his cleats. Donald is irreplaceable. Period. The Rams will definitely have a difficult time picking up the pieces after of the best defenders in NFL history retired with one yr left on his contract.
Donald, who threatened to retire in 2022 in an effort to strengthen his leverage for a redone contract (and succeeding), remained near the highest of his game last season (eight sacks, 16 tackles for loss, 23 QB hits) and earned the last of his first-team All-Pro nods. Assessing the Rams’ defense becomes tougher resulting from the impact Donald made.
Dante Fowler, Leonard Floyd and Von Miller collected big paydays shortly after thriving alongside the Rams’ unmatched inside pass rusher, with Donald’s presence undoubtedly lessening the burden on the team’s secondary as well. He drove the defensive effort within the Rams’ Super Bowl LVI win, doing so three years after his second DPOY season powered McVay’s team to Super Bowl LIII.
Donald’s retirement — at 33 — will tag the Rams with substantial dead money. He’ll count $23.8MM against Los Angeles’ 2024 cap and $9.7MM on the team’s 2025 payroll. The Rams made the playoffs with greater than $70MM in dead money on last yr’s cap; the lack of Donald on the sector will matter much more in comparison with the cap ramifications of his retirement.
How the Rams’ defense functions after Donald’s 10-year profession wraps will likely be a central NFC storyline. Regardless, the Rams will try to use some combination of Kobie Turner, Bobby Brown, and second-round rookie Braden Fiske to attempt to make up for Donald’s lost production.
The cause for the abovementioned new-look secondary might be seen here. Fuller was a four-year starter (missing most of 1 yr with injury) as a sixth-round pick for the Rams. In those three healthy years, Fuller yielded seven interceptions and a 100-tackle season. He leveraged those performances right into a one-year cope with the Panthers, reuniting with ex-Rams safeties coach Ejiro Evero. Witherspoon played in every game of the season last yr for the primary time in his profession, reeling in three interceptions in the method. The 29-year-old stays a free agent.
On offense, the lack of names like Wentz and Freeman seems greater than they could be. Far faraway from being a 2017 MVP candidate and three years after his last full season as a starting passer, Wentz’s impact in Los Angeles was minimal. Still, the drop in quality from Wentz to Garoppolo or Bennett at QB2 could also be significant. Freeman’s name may not appear to be an enormous loss, but his 319 rushing yards in 2023 were essentially the most behind Kyren Williams by a good margin. The team drafted Michigan’s Blake Corum within the third round this yr in hopes that he’ll provide an improvement at RB2.
Of the losses on the offensive line, Shelton’s is the largest. Shelton took the reins from Allen at center last yr, starting every Rams game. Seeing his playing time dissolve, Allen ended up a cap casualty. Shelton has since found his way right into a Week 1 starting role in Chicago on a one-year contract.
Extensions and restructures:
Certainly one of this offseason’s biggest moves saw the Rams reward Stafford for a healthy and productive season in 2023. The cannon-armed QB’s 2022 injuries played the lead role within the Rams submitting the worst Super Bowl title defense ever, and rumblings a few trade surfaced early through the 2023 offseason. Though, Stafford’s contract and health on the time never made a move realistic.
After a bounce-back 2023, Stafford — upon seeing nearly all of the guarantees from his contract exhausted — expressed desires for more locked-in money in his future. Los Angeles took care of its own, moving $5MM of future funds in order that Stafford would receive $36MM in 2024. The team also added a guaranteed $4MM roster bonus for the 2025 season to Stafford’s contract.
The modified deal doesn’t extend Stafford’s obligation past its original end following the 2026 season, however the Rams made their quarterback pleased in hopes he can do the identical for them. While the team has expressed optimism Stafford can play beyond 2024, the team still views this — the summer reworking aside — as a year-to-year partnership.
Noteboom’s path because the heir apparent to Andrew Whitworth didn’t quite pan out as Los Angeles had hoped. While Noteboom will not be the full-time starter they expected, he still holds a consistent role as a swingman; the previous third-round pick began 14 games over the past two years at guard and tackle. An agreement to restructure with a pay cut allowed Noteboom to proceed in that role moving forward. His decreased income was supplemented within the short term with nearly $7MM in guarantees. Because of this, Noteboom’s cap hit decreased from $20MM to $11.6MM.
Draft:
- Round 1, No. 19: Jared Verse (EDGE, Florida State) (signed)
- Round 2, No. 39 (from Panthers): Braden Fiske (DT, Florida State) (signed)
- Round 3, No. 83: Blake Corum (RB, Michigan) (signed)
- Round 3, No. 99: Kamren Kinchens (S, Miami) (signed)
- Round 5, No. 154: Brennan Jackson (WR, Washington State) (signed)
- Round 6, No. 196: Tyler Davis (DT, Clemson) (signed)
- Round 6, No. 209: Joshua Karty (K, Stanford) (signed)
- Round 6, No. 213: Jordan Whittington (WR, Texas) (signed)
- Round 6, No. 217: Beaux Limmer (C, Arkansas) (signed)
- Round 7, No. 254: KT Leveston (G, Kansas State) (signed)
The 2023 Rams finished in the underside half of the league (twentieth) in pass defense last yr, with a part of that rating being resulting from the team ending twenty third in sacks. After losing Donald, who accounted for eight of their 41 sacks, Los Angeles made addressing the defensive position and pass rush a top priority within the draft. 
After a 9.5-sack performance at Division I-FCS Albany, Verse spent the past two years with the Seminoles and racked up nine sacks in each of those two years. The coveted edge rusher showed further disruptive abilities with 29.5 tackles for loss over that very same period. Widely considered to be within the running as considered one of the draft’s top pass rushers alongside Alabama’s Dallas Turner and UCLA’s Laiatu Latu, Verse found himself because the third edge defender off the board, following those two.
The Rams then decided to trade up within the second round for Verse’s college teammate, Fiske, who had six sacks himself in a single yr at Florida State. That showing followed a six-sack performance in his fifth yr at Western Michigan, as well.
Adding Davis out of Clemson, who finished with 5.5 sacks in two of his five years with the Tigers, Los Angeles is host to a slew of young defenders who could contribute to the pass-rushing rotation early. Adding in Kinchens, whose 11 interceptions for the Hurricanes within the last two years led the FBS over that point, and the Rams could have added impact rookies everywhere in the field on defense. The team has shown a knack for mid- and late-round defensive finds under GM Les Snead; post-Donald, the team might want to hit on young defensive help once more.
Los Angeles also drafted its recent kicker with the in-state leg Karty coming over from Stanford. Karty leaves the Cardinal with a school-record 85% field goal conversion rate. His 23 makes in 2023 were essentially the most in a season in Stanford history, and in 2022 he went 18-for-18 including a 61-yard game-winner. The Rams will hope that he can return them to consistency on the position after they transitioned from Matt Gay last yr.
On offense, the team added a possible upgrade at RB2 with Corum and took a number of fliers on some pass catchers and blockers. The Rams’ approach to the offensive side of the ball could have looked quite a bit different had a number of rumors come to fruition. With Stafford nearing his late 30s, there have been definitely thoughts that Los Angeles could make a move for a passer within the draft this yr with some reports that they were even trying to climb into the highest 10.
While a move up that prime would have definitely indicated crosshairs on a quarterback, speculation swirled that they could have also had their eyes on Georgia tight end Brock Bowers, who went a number of selections ahead of them at 13. One report alleged that the Rams attempted to contact the Jets and Vikings — who ended up swapping spots at Nos. 10 and 11 — a few trade-up maneuver that might have been targeting the top-tier tight end. Later reports also noted an attempted move as much as No. 16, where it’s believed the team was targeting Texas defensive tackle Byron Murphy II.
Trades:
The Jones trade represents the most recent example of Los Angeles being unwilling to spend money on the linebacker position. Jones is entering a contract yr after an enormous performance in 2023. Utilizing his newfound leverage after a profession yr, Jones angled for an extension. Unwilling to fulfill his request, the Rams permitted Jones to hunt a trade with other teams, a request the fourth-year ILB had not made. Los Angeles reached out to speak with potential trade partners regardless, ultimately striking a deal that may send Jones to the Titans for what is actually a 2025 late-round pick swap.
Without Jones, the Rams have quite an enormous hole to fill in the midst of their defense. Jones’ 988 defensive snaps last season led the linebackers room by a healthy margin. Rozeboom was second within the room with just 579.
An undrafted free agent in 2020 out of South Dakota State, Rozeboom’s motion last yr was essentially the most he’s seen in his four-year profession. The Rams must like what they see in Rozeboom and Reeder to re-sign them, but they will likely be asking quite a bit to interchange Jones’ top-end production. PFF ranked the previous third-rounder because the NFL’s Thirteenth-best off-ball linebacker last yr.
The Titans will likely be receiving Jones on a one-year rental, unless they determine to increase him themselves, nevertheless it’s a small price to pay for the most effective linebackers in football last season.
The Rams took a flier on Skowronek out of Notre Dame (after 4 years at Northwestern) within the 2021 seventh round. After failing to see much production in his rookie season, the team experimented a bit with the young receiver, playing him a bit at fullback, as well. After essentially being reduced to a special-teamer in 2023, Skowronek was on the verge of being waived before the ultimate yr of his rookie deal.
As a substitute, the Texans agreed to a late-round pick swap in 2026 in exchange for cutting the road within the waiver wire and easily took on Skowronek themselves. Ultimately, Skowronek did not make the 53-man roster in a crowded wide receivers room and, eventually, signed to the Steelers’ practice squad.
Other:
Certainly one of the largest areas of change for the Rams in 2024 got here on the coaching staff, because the McVay tree expanded once more. The Rams’ DC of the past three years, Morris departed to turn out to be the brand new skipper in Atlanta and took with him the team’s quarterbacks coach and a defensive assistant. Robinson will receive his first offensive coordinator opportunity together with a likelihood to call plays, something he couldn’t do under McVay. Lake, who had also worked under Morris with the Buccaneers through the latter’s HC stint in Florida, will even have the possibility to call plays within the NFL for the primary time.
The grandson of all-time coaching wins kingpin Don Shula, Chris has been with the Rams as an assistant coach on defense since 2017. In a little bit of a trading spaces scenario, the Rams hired Ragone — the Falcons’ OC from 2021-23 — to interchange Robinson as quarterbacks coach. The team also added Desai, a former defensive coordinator for the Bears and, more recently, the Eagles. Desai is trying to rebound after being demoted from his Eagles DC post in-season. Smith, who served because the interim head coach for the Chargers between Brandon Staley and Jim Harbaugh, replaced Henderson as defensive position coach.
The Rams will open the yr without multiple starters. Along with Kendrick’s ACL tear, Higbee continues his rehabilitation from the identical injury. After earning a bigger starter role in each of his first two years, Kendrick was primed for one more yr of progress. Unfortunately, that next step might want to wait until 2025. The opposite starter, Jackson, will miss the team’s first two contests with a suspension resulting from a violation of the league’s personal conduct policy. After serving because the team’s full-time LT starter last yr, Jackson entered the offseason a restricted free agent. The Rams kept him around with a priority RFA tender.
Despite a 10-man draft class, the Rams emphasized an infusion of youth by signing 16 undrafted free agents. Whether a powerful feat or a concerning omen, five of those 16 players ended up making the initial 53-man roster. Two players, Elias Neal and Omar Speights, underlined how thin the linebacking corps goes to be without Jones. The opposite three, Jaylen McCollough, Josh Wallace, and Charles Woods, all fill out a secondary that may miss Kendrick.
Top 10 cap chargers for 2024:
- Matthew Stafford, QB: $41.17MM
- Cooper Kupp, WR: $29.78MM
- Rob Havenstein, RT: $14.7MM
- Jonah Jackson, G: $13.67MM
- Kevin Dotson, G: $12.67MM
- Tyler Higbee, TE: $12.61MM
- Joseph Noteboom, OL: $11.62MM
- Alaric Jackson, LT: $4.89MM
- Darious Williams, CB: $4.67MM
- Kamren Curl, S: $4.24MM
While the Rams look much the identical when assessing some areas, others look quite unfamiliar — for higher or worse. The front office has been diligent in keeping some old acquaintances pleased and attracting recent talent. A variety of the offense seems ok to take Los Angeles to a different Super Bowl, while a new-look defense and training staff can have something to prove in 2024. McVay piloted last yr’s retooled team to a detailed wild-card loss, after a cost-cutting offseason didn’t generate much hype. Because of this, the Rams are squarely back on the contender radar.
