The Los Angeles Rams didn’t make many splashy 2025 NFL Draft moves after trading out of the first round and doing multiple trade-ups in the later rounds, but their first pick could make a big impact this season. L.A. took Oregon tight end Terrance Ferguson with the No. 46 pick and has done nothing but shower him with praise and comparisons since the selection.
So while Ferguson will begin the summer as the Rams’ No. 2 tight end, ESPN’s Ben Solak predicts the rookie could soon move up the team’s depth chart in 2025.
“Rams rookie tight end Terrance Ferguson will supplant Tyler Higbee as the starter by Week 5 and end the season as the second-best target in L.A. behind Puka Nacua (and ahead of Davante Adams),” Solak wrote. “Call it 63 catches, 821 yards and six scores.”
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That is a lofty mark for the rookie tight end who only tallied 1,537 total yards and 16 touchdowns in his 53 combined collegiate games in Oregon. But it’s a bet on Ferguson’s skillset, Sean McVay’s need for a good pass-catching tight end and the decline of Higbee.
What’s odd, though, is that even Higbee never had as good of a season as Solak suggests Ferguson will have with McVay. Higbee’s best season came in 2022 when he caught 72 receptions for 620 and three touchdowns, and that season Matthew Stafford played just nine games and the Rams won just five games.
The other intriguing element is that Solak believes Adams won’t have as good of a season as Ferguson despite his years of excellence. Adams and Nacua should be the one-two punch for the Rams’ passing offense in 2025, but Solak sees Ferguson as perhaps having a bigger impact than the veteran free agent.
This article originally appeared on Rams Wire: ESPN’s Ben Solak makes a bold prediction about Rams rookie