{"id":843354,"date":"2026-03-30T18:17:16","date_gmt":"2026-03-30T18:17:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/843354\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T18:17:16","modified_gmt":"2026-03-30T18:17:16","slug":"rams-considered-trading-davante-adams-targeting-kirk-cousins-as-backup-qb","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/843354\/","title":{"rendered":"Rams considered trading Davante Adams, targeting Kirk Cousins as backup QB"},"content":{"rendered":"

PHOENIX \u2014 The Los Angeles Rams are running back much of the NFL\u2019s No. 1 scoring offense, but they are not afraid to look for upgrades to fight off complacency.<\/p>\n

That ideology led them to consider trading one of their biggest stars this offseason, Davante Adams. It also has them eyeing Kirk Cousins as the next backup to Matthew Stafford.<\/p>\n

The Rams were in discussions<\/a> with the Philadelphia Eagles to acquire A.J. Brown, and McVay said they broached the idea of trading Adams \u2014 to the point of talking through the idea with Adams himself.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe really talked about some different avenues of onboarding other players and how it might affect Davante. I\u2019ve talked to Davante about that, and if we felt that it was best for our team, we would have done that,\u201d McVay said at the NFL\u2019s league meeting in Phoenix. \u201cBut we didn\u2019t think it was best for our team, so we\u2019re excited to move forward with him.\u201d<\/p>\n

McVay did meet with Adams to talk through the possibility. He felt that it was important just one year after recruiting Adams to Los Angeles on a two-year deal. Adams will now enter a contract year that will pay him $28 million this season, when he\u2019ll turn 34 in December.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of narratives that are out there. What I do think is important is to address the things that our players could be affected with. I believe in dealing with those things directly. He\u2019s a grown man, and he\u2019s a great player. At the end of the day, there\u2019s a lot of things going on. We\u2019re always looking at ways to upgrade our roster and feel like we can be as competitive as possible. There\u2019s discussions and dialogues, but it never got to that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adams arrived in Los Angeles as a free agent last year and then became the first player in NFL history to lead the league in receiving touchdowns with three different teams. He scored 14 touchdowns in 14 games but also dealt with multiple lower-body injuries that cost him three games. His 789 receiving yards were the lowest he\u2019s had in a season since 2015. Granted, it came with Puka Nacua totaling 1,715 receiving yards. The Rams rode that duo to the No. 1 scoring offense in the league.<\/p>\n

McVay also said the Rams are looking at two options to be their backup quarterback next season. One is Jimmy Garoppolo, who held the job for the past two seasons but is currently a free agent weighing different options. The other is Cousins.<\/p>\n

McVay worked with Cousins in Washington from 2012 to 2016, right before he took the Rams\u2019 head-coaching job. McVay was Washington\u2019s offensive coordinator from 2014 to 2016, when Cousins first broke out by leading the league in completion percentage in 2015 and reached his first Pro Bowl in 2016 to set up a major contract with the Minnesota Vikings in 2018.<\/p>\n

Cousins is currently a free agent after he was released by the Atlanta Falcons following 22 starts over the past two seasons. Los Angeles watched him up close in Week 17 last season, when he led the Falcons to a 27-24 upset of the Rams.<\/p>\n

Cousins turns 38 in August and could be an option to back up Los Angeles\u2019 38-year-old quarterback in Stafford, who is fresh off his first MVP award. Stafford is entering the final year of his deal, though McVay said the Rams are working with him on an adjustment to that contract that also depends on how much longer Stafford decides to keep playing.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d love to have Jimmy Garoppolo back with us. \u2026 Is there an opportunity if it\u2019s not Jimmy that it\u2019s Kirk Cousins? Of course, I\u2019d love to see what that looks like,\u201d McVay said. \u201cThose are two guys we\u2019ve talked about.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve communicated with Kirk and (his agent) Mike McCartney, and those are things we\u2019re very interested in possibly exploring. But again, it\u2019s really premature. I know Kirk has some other options and opportunities as well. But he\u2019s a guy I have familiarity with, history and a lot of reverence for.\u201d<\/p>\n

McVay made clear after last season that he preferred to bring Garoppolo back as his backup, but he also knew the Rams would face competition for his services. Garoppolo has started 64 games in his career but made just one start in two seasons as Stafford\u2019s backup and could be looking for a better chance at playing time in free agency.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt this point, when there hasn\u2019t been a decision, it feels less likely than likely,\u201d McVay said of a possible Garoppolo return. \u201cBut I don\u2019t want to rule that out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cousins could have the same aspirations, but the league only has so many opportunities left for quarterbacks to earn immediate playing time. He could reunite with McVay in Los Angeles and stay ready behind Stafford, who played all 20 games last season but is managing a degenerative back issue.<\/p>\n

The Rams\u2019 interest in these two quarterbacks is yet another signal of how they view the upcoming season. General manager Les Snead said after the season that he would get more aggressive to maximize Stafford\u2019s remaining window and followed up by adding All-Pro cornerback Trent McDuffie<\/a> as well as his Kansas City Chiefs counterpart, Jaylen Watson, to overhaul a secondary that fell short in the NFC Championship Game.<\/p>\n

After sending out the No. 29 overall pick to the Chiefs for McDuffie, the Rams still own the No. 13 selection, thanks to last year\u2019s draft day trade with the Falcons. But if the Rams sign Garoppolo or Cousins to be Stafford\u2019s backup, it would suggest they are viewing the quarterback position more in terms of the present than the future, even with Stafford entering his 18th season.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou think about it short- and long-term,\u201d McVay said of the quarterback position. \u201cLook, (Stafford) has earned the right to be on a year-to-year basis. If he told me that he wanted to play a couple more years, I\u2019d believe him. If he told me one more year \u2014 he\u2019s earned that right. We understand that, and we\u2019re grateful that he\u2019s our quarterback.\u201d<\/p>\n

Between eyeing a trade for Brown but ultimately passing, by weighing a signing of Cousins and by bringing in Kliff Kingsbury as assistant head coach, the Rams are walking a line between continuity and evolution with an offense that just led the league in scoring.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re not going to ask Matthew Stafford to do anything that doesn\u2019t fit within his skill sets. We\u2019re not going to do that with the offensive line,\u201d McVay said. \u201cBut what I do know for certain is if we expect to do the same things we did last year, we\u2019ll be humbled because guys do too good a job with the players and the coaches in this league.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re in the mix of evolving and really adding to it, and what does that really look like? That\u2019s what I\u2019m excited to see.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHOENIX \u2014 The Los Angeles Rams are running back much of the NFL\u2019s No. 1 scoring offense, but…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":843355,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2079],"tags":[254,7,1014,58,2444,2611,6,424],"class_list":{"0":"post-843354","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles-rams","8":"tag-atlanta-falcons","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-los-angeles","11":"tag-los-angeles-rams","12":"tag-losangeles","13":"tag-losangelesrams","14":"tag-nfl","15":"tag-rams"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116319501879719272","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/843354","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=843354"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/843354\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/843355"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=843354"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=843354"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=843354"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}