Five weeks into the 2024 season, the Los Angeles Rams did not look like a team to be taken seriously. They had bottomed out with a 1-4 start, neither Puka Nacua nor Cooper Kupp was healthy, which affected Matthew Stafford\u2019s ability to be Matthew Stafford, and a defense that had the league talking about its potential before the season started wasn\u2019t realizing it. <\/p>\n
We all know what happened after the Week 6 bye<\/a>. Sean McVay\u2019s team went 9-3 down the stretch in the regular season, won the NFC West, beat the daylights out of the Minnesota Vikings in the Wild Card round, and lost a real nail-biter to the eventual Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles in the Divisional frame. <\/p>\n Now, it\u2019s onto the next. The Rams lost Cooper Kupp to the Seattle Seahawks, and picked up Davante Adams (more on him in a minute) as a potentially dynamic replacement. Stafford looks to be every bit the quarterback he\u2019s always been<\/a> on what looks to be a two-year plan<\/a>. McVay\u2019s run game, led by Kyren WIlliams, has moved decisively from inside and outside zone to the NFL\u2019s highest rate of straight-up man-blocking (by far) to great effect. The addition of Oregon tight end Terrance Ferguson with the 46th overall pick in the second round of the 2025 draft could portend a move to 12 personnel (one running back, two tight ends, two receivers), something unusual for McVay, who\u2019s been the NFL\u2019s most ardent 11 personnel advocate for years<\/a>. <\/p>\n The defense is a complete bear to deal with when it comes to the front \u2013 just ask Sam Darnold about that. And now they have free-agent defensive tackle Poona Ford, and third-round Michigan edge defender Josaiah Stewart, whose 2024 tape really impressed me<\/a>. The rich get richer there. Behind that, the Rams faced the league\u2019s third-most passing attempts in dime defense, but as we\u2019re about to see, that may change with a new cadre of linebackers. <\/p>\n There\u2019s been a lot of change this offseason for the Rams, and the obvious hope is that they\u2019ll be able to recreate their outstanding second-half surge without the unnecessary drama at the beginning. If that happens, it\u2019s easy to see this team as more than just a default division winner. <\/p>\n It takes more than just the big names to get that done, of course. In the continuation of SB Nation\u2019s \u201cHidden Gems\u201d series, I take a look at one underrated veteran, free-agent acquisition, and draft pick. All three of these guys could (and should) play major roles in whatever becomes of the Rams in 2025. <\/p>\n Underrated veteran: CB Cobie Durant<\/p>\n The Rams did what they did last season despite a cornerback group that allowed 15 touchdowns to just four interceptions. The opponent completion rate (53.2%), opponent EPA per play allowed (+0.02), and opponent passer rating (87.9) for those cornerbacks weren\u2019t quite as problematic, but there\u2019s a reason the team is still sniffing around the idea of a Jalen Ramsey reunion. It\u2019s also why they took a flier on former Washington Commanders first-round washout Emmanuel Forbes, for better or worse. <\/p>\n So, not an ideal sense of definition there at this point. But there\u2019s one cornerback in the room whose 2024 tape is worthy of further review, and the hope should be high for 2025. That\u2019s Cobie Durant, the 2022 fourth-rounder from South Carolina State who became a full-time starter in his second season, and saw his profile rise in 2024. <\/p>\n Durant\u2019s coaches had seen that coming. <\/p>\n \u201cA guy that\u2019s really grown,\u201d defensive coordinator Chris Shula said<\/a> of Durant last August. \u201cHe\u2019s kind of playing a lot more outside now, where his first year \u2013 I was actually the [defensive backs] coach, and he was playing more inside all the time. So, [he\u2019s] a guy that\u2019s really understanding. Tre White actually took him under his wing in the offseason. He\u2019s really understanding route combinations, splits, exactly what he\u2019s going to get, and a guy that\u2019s just been playing consistently, and he really has all offseason.\u201d<\/p>\n Durant didn\u2019t escape McVay\u2019s notice last preseason<\/a>, either. <\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s been outstanding,\u201d McVay said before the season began. \u201cHe\u2019s got such great movement, and he\u2019s really understanding how to be able to trigger on concepts, and where those play opportunities arise. You hear me talk about that a lot, but that\u2019s a big thing, especially based on whatever the defensive call is. He\u2019s competitive as hell, and he really understands how to play a lot of the techniques that Aubrey\u2019s coaching \u2013 specifically from the outside corner location. He has position flex, and he\u2019s had as consistent a camp as anybody on the defensive side of the ball. I\u2019ve been so pleased with Cobie Durant. He\u2019s been awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n Durant was fairly awesome last season, allowing 33 catches on 58 targets for 358 yards, 105 yards after the catch, two touchdowns, two interceptions, 10 pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 72.3. Durant was named NFC Defensive Player of the Week in Week 7<\/a> after his interception and forced fumble each led to offensive touchdowns, but his best game of the season may have come against the Buffalo Bills in Week 14, when he put Amari Cooper in a blender throughout. Durant made Secret Superstars for that one<\/a>. <\/p>\n Whether in press or off coverage, outside or in the slot, Durant has the range, closing speed, and the aforementioned on-field acumen to improve even more in 2025, and it will be fascinating to see how that goes. <\/p>\n Underrated free-agent signing: WR Davante Adams<\/p>\n Wait. Davante Adams underrated? Everyone knows who he is, and the dude was on a Hall of Fame track in his years with the Green Bay Packers from 2014 through 2021. Adams led the NFL in touchdown catches in 2022, his first season with the Las Vegas Raiders, and then\u2026 well, things went south pretty quickly<\/a>. Two and a half years after they engineered a massive trade for Adams, the Raiders shipped him off to the New York Jets on Oct. 15, 2024. <\/p>\n The hope was that reuniting Adams with Aaron Rodgers would provide a spark to a highly generic passing game. That didn\u2019t really happen. Adams finished the 2024 season with 85 catches on 135 targets for 1,063 yards and eight touchdowns. Not a bad season, but what could be in store for Adams in McVay\u2019s offense after he received no schematic help whatsoever \u2013 especially with the Jets \u2013 should have Rams fans just as giddy as Matthew Stafford appeared to be in the video below. <\/p>\n When the Jets used pre-snap motion last season (which wasn\u2019t often; their 44% motion rate ranked 23rd in the league), it wasn\u2019t ever to Adams\u2019 advantage. The veteran didn\u2019t have a single target when in motion last season. And under offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett, Gang Green didn\u2019t put Adams in positions to succeed with his nearly peerless route acumen with the kinds of condensed formations that Adams can blow defenses up with when they\u2019re given \u2013 and McVay is a genius with using both motion and condensed formations together to put defenses at a disadvantage with any receiver. <\/p>\n Davante Adams was not given the benefit of being the target in motion on any of his 16 explosive receptions last season.<\/p>\n Guess who led the league with 50 targets in motion? Puka Nacua.<\/p>\n Guess who ranked fourth in the league with 41? Cooper Kupp. pic.twitter.com\/0AOXkvMm36<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Doug Farrar \u270d (@NFL_DougFarrar) March 9, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cWe already connected in 2019 at the Derby out in Kentucky,\u201d Adams said of McVay on March 13, after he had signed his two-year, $44 million contract with $25 million guaranteed. \u201cHe told me at that point because I think we played you guys in 2018… he made a comment and he was just like, \u2018Look man, I have a lot of respect for your game and it\u2019d be amazing at some point to be able to team up, join forces and figure it out together on the same team.\u2019 <\/p>\n \u201cAt that point, you\u2019re on a different team, so you\u2019re like, \u2018Yeah, it\u2019d be cool one day.\u2019 But to have it be a real thing now and him to have the opportunity to make sure that it didn\u2019t slip away \u2013 because he certainly made sure it did not slip away. That was something that drew me even closer to the Rams, just knowing how much I was wanted. Having different players reach out too was another thing that meant a lot to me. It\u2019s a good feeling just being wanted and knowing what you still can contribute and bring to the game. <\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s always good when the other side of the organization views you the same way as you view yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s been a while since Davante Adams has had that situation; and it sounds like he and the Rams are more than ready to unleash it all. So, I\u2019m calling Adams underrated at this point in his career because of what I believe will happen now that he has the quarterback, and the concepts, to help bring out his best.<\/p>\n Underrated draft pick: LB Chris \u201cPooh\u201d Paul Jr. <\/p>\n The Rams actually got two linebackers I love in this selection process \u2013 Chris \u201cPooh\u201d Paul from Ole Miss with the 172nd overall pick in the fifth round, and Buffalo\u2019s Shaun Dolac, who for some reason went undrafted. Dolac has a place in an NFL defense<\/a>, drafted or not. <\/p>\n Buffalo (college) LB Shaun Dolac. If I’m an NFL defensive coordinator, this is a guy I want in the building, thank you very much. If there’s something he can’t do, I’d like to know what it is. pic.twitter.com\/WLN1Jg2wVH<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Doug Farrar \u270d (@NFL_DougFarrar) January 11, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n On to Paul. Last season, he did it all for the Rebels with six sacks, 24 total pressures, 73 solo tackles, 54 stops, and 27 catches allowed on 33 targets for 230 yards, 277 yards after the catch, one touchdown, one interception, four pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 93.2. <\/p>\n Paul also had nine tackles for loss last season \u2013 six in the run game \u2013 and that\u2019s a big deal for a franchise whose last on-field memory is Jalen Hurts and Saquon Barkley running all over its defense in that Divisional Round loss. McVay talked after that game about how Barkley especially was able to pull away at the second level, and misdirection runs put the team\u2019s linebackers in various levels of hell all season long. Both Paul and Dolac should provide more read-and-react ability, and the athleticism to capitalize on those reads with their reactions. <\/p>\n Comparing Paul to Fred Warner may seem nuts, as Warner is the NFL\u2019s best linebacker and has been for a while now, but this is more of a developmental comp. Warner was a third-round pick in the 2018 draft, and he was more of a hybrid player than a pure linebacker at BYU. You\u2019re not always now who you will be later. Watching Paul now, and thinking of how the San Francisco 49ers have deployed Warner over time, there are a lot of similarities, and we\u2019d guess the Rams would be pretty happy if things turn out similarly in this case. <\/p>\n New @RamsNFL<\/a> LB Pooh Paul Jr. It sounds sacrilegious, I know, but I get a Fred Warner vibe here. Runs receivers up the rail, reads everything from the middle, he’s a demon to the backfield… all the way to how he can pressure from the weakside B-gap on an overload front. pic.twitter.com\/XSYA7dZ1NV<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Doug Farrar \u270d (@NFL_DougFarrar) May 13, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n (All advanced metrics courtesy of Pro Football Focus<\/a> and Sports Info Solutions<\/a>). <\/p>\n