{"id":787534,"date":"2026-03-02T21:24:17","date_gmt":"2026-03-02T21:24:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/787534\/"},"modified":"2026-03-02T21:24:17","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T21:24:17","slug":"heres-how-espn-tiered-the-rams-impending-defensive-free-agents","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/787534\/","title":{"rendered":"Here’s how ESPN tiered the Rams impending defensive free agents"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Los Angeles Rams<\/a> have some notable names who could hit the open market<\/a> this offseason. And, unlike their offensive free agents<\/a>, a few of their defensive players could draw real attention free agency.<\/p>\n

ESPN’s Bill Barnwell<\/a> put all of the impending free agents into six tiers ahead of free agency: franchise players (Tier 1), Pro Bowl-caliber starters (Tier 2), capable starters (Tier 3), borderline starters\/high-end backups (Tier 4), backups likely to net guaranteed money (Tier 5) and backups likely to earn roster spot (Tier 6). The Rams’ defensive free agents fared better than their offensive counterparts, with two players cracking Tier 3.<\/p>\n

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That distinction belongs to safety Kamren Curl and cornerback Cobie Durant, both of whom Barnwell deemed are Tier 3 capable starters. Curl has been one of the more underrated safeties after a breakout 2025 campaign and could earn a huge payday<\/a> in free agency. Durant, meanwhile, emerged as a legitimate starter in the Rams’ secondary. Both figures will draw interest on the open market, and the Rams will face real decisions about whether to bring them back at market value.<\/p>\n

Cornerback Roger McCreary landed in Tier 5 as a backup likely to net guaranteed money. The Rams traded<\/a> for McCreary at the midseason deadline, but didn’t see the return on investment they likely had hoped to get out of the veteran. As Barnwell’s tier suggests, he could find a role on another team or come back to L.A. at the right price.<\/p>\n

Rounding out the group in Tier 6 \u2014 backups likely to earn a roster spot \u2014 are linebacker Troy Reeder, cornerback Derion Kendrick and cornerback Ahkello Witherspoon. None of the three players should command significant interest, but each brings enough experience to latch on somewhere as depth. Reeder and Witherspoon are veterans who’ve had big roles in L.A., while Kendrick has been a reserve secondary player.<\/p>\n

The contrast with the offensive free agent group is notable. While losing any of the offensive players would barely register, allowing Curl and Durant to walk would create real holes in the secondary that general manager Les Snead and head coach Sean McVay would need to address elsewhere. This and the production issues are big reasons why cornerback is considered the Rams’ biggest offseason need.<\/p>\n

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The Rams’ offseason decisions on defense will be defined largely by what they do with Curl and Durant. Everything else is just roster management. It wouldn’t be a shock to see Reeder, Witherspoon and Kendrick back in L.A., but it also wouldn’t be surprising if the Rams wanted to go in a different direction, either.<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on Rams Wire: NFL free agency: Here’s how ESPN tiered the Rams’ players<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Los Angeles Rams have some notable names who could hit the open market this offseason. And, unlike…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":787535,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2079],"tags":[9707,21637,11728,473,7,4609,194,16573,1014,58,2444,2611,6,32792,424,9090,3416,8801],"class_list":{"0":"post-787534","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles-rams","8":"tag-ahkello-witherspoon","9":"tag-bill-barnwell","10":"tag-cobie-durant","11":"tag-derion-kendrick","12":"tag-football","13":"tag-free-agency","14":"tag-free-agent","15":"tag-kamren-curl","16":"tag-los-angeles","17":"tag-los-angeles-rams","18":"tag-losangeles","19":"tag-losangelesrams","20":"tag-nfl","21":"tag-offensive-free-agents","22":"tag-rams","23":"tag-roger-mccreary","24":"tag-the-rams","25":"tag-troy-reeder"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116161692649099280","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/787534","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=787534"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/787534\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/787535"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=787534"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=787534"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=787534"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}