The Los Angeles Rams‘ defense was a work in progress this past season. They didn’t start great, were very inexperienced and had serious flaws that ultimately played a huge role in their loss in the NFC Divisional Round.

There were flashes of excellence, though, particularly in the second half of the regular season, that showcased this young unit’s immense talent. And with Chris Shula once again running the defense, the Rams have a chance to surprise many in 2025.

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The Ringer’s Sheil Kapadia isn’t as bullish on that idea. He ranked the Rams’ defense as the 24th in the league heading into the season, mainly because L.A. is only good at one thing and doesn’t have a great secondary.

The Rams have one move: pressure the quarterback! And they’re pretty good at it. Los Angeles has invested heavily in its defensive line. Jared Verse had a terrific rookie season, and, if we include the postseason, the Rams produced the fourth-best pressure rate in the NFL last year. But overall, this was not a good defense last season (26th in DVOA). Of course, it didn’t help that this was one of three teams to face a backup quarterback less than 10 percent of the time. The lack of talent at corner will show up against good offenses again this season, and the run defense is below average. We’ll see how far the young pass rush can take the Rams, but results that are similar to those from last season would not surprise me.

Verse and company are great and should anchor the defense, but the lack of support at the second and third levels is a hard pill to swallow.

The linebackers could be OK with Omar Speights stepping into the starting role with the trio of Nate Landman, Troy Reeder and rookie Chris Paul Jr., but the secondary is a mirror image of the 26th-ranked unit from a year ago. And they’re all a year older. That’s not a great recipe for success when you’re facing a first-place schedule.

The Rams will live and die by their pass rush, which could be elite. The addition of Poona Ford is also helpful for stopping the run — which was their biggest defensive line issue in 2024. However, the unit hasn’t made tremendous strides elsewhere to warrant a better ranking at this time.

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This article originally appeared on Rams Wire: Rams ranked the bottom of defensive power rankings by analyst