WOODLAND HILLS, Calif. — The Los Angeles Rams have entered their offseason, fresh off a year of often spectacular results and a finish that left a sting in the building.
The Rams went 12-5 in the regular season and won road playoff games over the Carolina Panthers and Chicago Bears before going toe-to-toe with the Seahawks in Seattle. But some key mistakes, namely on defense and special teams, left them just short in a 31-27 defeat in the NFC Championship Game.
After getting so close, the outlook could be bright, with ample cap space and two first-round draft picks. But it also hinges on Matthew Stafford’s desire to keep playing and on a contract adjustment that could make that happen.
The Rams have also hired one new coordinator, Bubba Ventrone, to oversee the special teams and need to hire (or promote) someone to replace offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur, who left to become the Arizona Cardinals’ head coach.
With a big offseason on deck, it’s time for another Rams mailbag. Let’s get to it.
Questions have been edited for length and clarity.
If Stafford does decide to hang them up, do you think someone like Joe Burrow is a possibility? Especially with the capital they have this year? — Gabe
Offseason mailbags are the time to have some fun with hypotheticals. So as we wait on Stafford to give an official announcement on what’s next, why not dive all the way in?
To start off, I don’t expect Stafford, at the top of his game, to retire just yet. Not when his team is this close to another championship, he has contract leverage again, and next year’s Super Bowl is at SoFi Stadium. Everything about this situation on paper screams, “Run it back.”
But anything can happen, and Stafford does have more than his career to think about with a degenerative back issue and four young daughters.
So, let’s play out the hypothetical in which he retires this offseason. In that scenario, Burrow would almost certainly be options A, B and C for the Rams to pursue.
It’s obviously in their nature, given that they traded Jared Goff for Stafford five years ago. And a two-time top-five MVP finisher at age 29 would be by far the best option for a Rams team trying to win now. And this draft is starting to feel like Fernando Mendoza or bust at the quarterback spot.
If Burrow were to request a trade this offseason, which seems at least possible after his Cincinnati Bengals franchise decided against any organizational changes after he called for some, you’d have to think a Stafford-less Rams team would be at the top of his list. It would be all the allure that Stafford saw in Sean McVay, life in Los Angeles, star wide receivers and a front office that has shown high-dollar, all-in tendencies, which the Bengals consistently lack.
It’s unknown whether the Bengals would want to facilitate a trade to Burrow’s liking quite the way the Detroit Lions seemed to with Stafford. Burrow also has a no-trade clause in his contract.
Burrow would come with a massive contract, signed through 2029, that would be a decent jump from what Stafford made this season. But the Rams have a projected $48 million in available cap space this spring and almost as much space as any team in 2027, when Stafford’s deal is off the books. The Bengals would eat $21 million of Burrow’s remaining deal if they trade him this offseason. Financially, it would work out just fine.
The Rams traded two first-rounders and Goff to the Lions for Stafford, and not having the quarterback to send back this time would make the package less appealing and likely require more picks. Sending out an additional Day 2 pick would make it harder for the Rams to find the cornerback solution they need to take the next step. But this would be a long-term commitment to a quarterback who is four years younger than Stafford was when he got here.
Again, I don’t foresee Stafford retiring just yet. And if Burrow does request a trade, it would make sense that it happens this spring, which is also when the Rams have the two first-rounders to offer.
The timing can make it harder than initially thought to find the next quarterback. But I do think the Rams will be players for veteran options when that time comes, and C.J. Stroud and Bryce Young are two other options to keep in mind if they have a similar decision to make a year from now.
What caused the defense to drop off late in the season? It went from a top-five unit to one that consistently allowed more than 20 points. It was blamed on Quentin Lake’s injury, but it didn’t rebound after he returned. Was it just not that good, and then was exposed by better competition later in the season? Can a better secondary fix it, or is there more to it? — Christopher P.
The defensive regression started right after the Rams thumped the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 12. I remember thinking at the time that the games to come would be a big test of how much they missed Lake and how much was natural regression for the lowest-paid defense in the league.
In the end, the answer was both.
Lake earned a massive extension upon his return because he’s a critical piece to a Chris Shula scheme that is built on the secondary, while the resources he has to work with are in the front four. Lake rotates from nickel cornerback to strong safety to free safety to disguise the coverages behind those creative fronts, and he communicates the late changes in run fits and coverages to younger players on the back end.
Quentin Lake’s versatility in the secondary is a key part of the Rams’ defense. (Greg Fiume / Getty Images)
It just isn’t the same creative force without him. So, while his return didn’t fix everything, I believe it did contribute to Cobie Durant’s three interceptions in three playoff games, as well as a much-improved run defense that allowed 3.7 yards per carry in those games.
But although the sum of Lake’s impact is large, he isn’t a singular playmaker himself just yet. He has one career interception. And so the Rams needed more of that star power to come from the front four, and it just didn’t happen enough in the playoffs.
Part of that was Byron Young hurting his knee against the Bears. Part of it is that he and Jared Verse need to become better sack finishers with the pressures they create. And part of it was the regression of an outside cornerback group that never had a No. 1 option to funnel matchups through, leaving it to rotate three players at one spot against the Seahawks.
It’s possible that a healthy Ahkello Witherspoon could have made the picture come together this past season. All teams have injuries, but key setbacks hurt more to a defense that doesn’t have many financial resources. But I do feel the defense is a top-notch cornerback away from being the unit that throttled the Seahawks and Buccaneers in back-to-back games. Finding that guy is harder to do, but with two first-round picks and ample cap space, that needs to be the focus of the offseason.
Why would the Rams hire the special teams coordinator from the worst special teams in the league? — Abe A.
The Rams are trusting the retooling of their special teams to Ventrone and assistant Kyle Hoke, who last year oversaw a Browns unit that ranked dead last in special teams by DVOA, a measurement of teams against the league average. On its face, it’s a bold bet to address an array of issues.
I covered Ventrone during the 2021 and 2022 seasons with the Indianapolis Colts, and those were the years McVay cited as motivation behind the hire when I asked him about Ventrone on Monday. McVay said Ventrone has been on his radar for some time, which aligns with how the league viewed him during those Colts years and explains why he was able to find a landing spot with the Browns in a single day when he chose to leave Indianapolis after a coaching change.
I think Ventrone has the potential to offer the Rams three key areas they could really use right now:
The first is splash plays on special teams. That’s what his units in Indianapolis were known for, from blocked kicks to an explosive return game. The Rams got basically one of those plays all of last season, when Verse took his blocked field goal back for a touchdown against the Atlanta Falcons. Before the return game became destructive in the NFC Championship Game, it lacked the confidence and poise to be much of a threat.
The second is how Ventrone can fit a franchise’s draft-and-development strategy. In Indianapolis, he held a stronger role than other coaches in draft scouting and would almost always get a Day 3 pick or undrafted free-agent signing that was purely about what he could do with a player. That led to names such as Kenny Moore II and Zaire Franklin, who rose from UDFA and seventh-round status to become strong special-teamers and then Pro Bowl defenders. The Rams are such a draft-and-develop franchise in their effort to maintain a low-paid defense, and if the process can add a boost to the special teams, that’d be a major win.
The third is game management. Ventrone was a coach the Colts leaned on situationally. It’s a trait he learned from Bill Belichick during his time in New England, applied as a special-teamer in cold-weather climates and then adjusted as a coordinator for a dome team. He took on a much bigger load when the Colts brought in interim coach Jeff Saturday from a broadcasting role. Despite Cleveland’s struggles, game management wasn’t one of them. And it’s something McVay needs to get better at.
Now, the Browns’ tenure showed that Ventrone is not going to make chicken salad out of chicken you-know-what if the personnel is lacking as much as it was there. The consistency and technique issues are worthy concerns, as are the two punts the Browns had blocked last season.
But I’ve always found Ventrone to be a different force when he isn’t as stressed about his kicking game, and that’s where re-signing Harrison Mevis should be a priority. It’ll mean a larger focus on special teams on Day 3 of the draft rather than these stash-and-wait players, but that’s an approach the Rams need to embrace right now.