The Los Angeles Rams are staring at an all-or-nothing season in 2025. Matthew Stafford is another year old, the offensive line is dealing with lingering ailments and the defense remains a work in progress in the secondary.
However, this is a team that still looks like a playoff contender that’s looking to defend its divisional crown and get back to the Super Bowl.
Will that happen? ESPN’s Bill Barnwell doesn’t think so. He predicted the Rams will miss the playoffs in 2025 for the first time since 2022 and only the second time in Sean McVay’s tenure as head coach.
The reason, as you can imagine, centers around the health of Stafford and whether or not he can play a full season with the back injury that plagued his summer.
The factor making the Rams so difficult to project is uncertainty. If you could guarantee that we were about to get a healthy season from 37-year-old quarterback Matthew Stafford, there would be a much easier conversation to have about Los Angeles making it back to the postseason. Sean McVay’s track record is virtually unimpeachable: The Rams have made six playoff appearances in eight years with the superstar coach at the helm, including four division titles over that span.
The Rams are a top-heavy team, and when those stars struggle to stay healthy, there’s the potential for a season like 2022, when the offensive line went to shambles and many of L.A.’s highest-paid players were done for the year by November. I’m not sure that sort of injury reckoning is coming for the Rams or any other team in the league, but I’m concerned enough about Stafford to leave this team out of the playoffs if I have to pick three division winners to spend January at home.
This is a pessimistic look at the Rams’ 2025 season, but it’s also a real possibility for a squad that is heavily reliant on its stars. Jimmy Garoppolo could give the team some sense of offensive stability, but he isn’t nearly as close to the caliber of quarterback Stafford would be under center.
The biggest wild card is the defense, which looked great in the second half of the season before falling apart late in the NFC Divisional Round against the Philadelphia Eagles’ rushing attack. If this unit takes a step forward, it could perhaps mitigate any issues with the offense if Stafford misses time.