Los Angeles Rams<\/a> is set to expire after this season, and while Dotson’s extension may not take priority over others, it should if the franchise has any intentions of keeping their star offensive lineman for the future.<\/p>\nSince joining the Rams in 2023, Dotson has been a revelation and the numbers speak for themselves. Puka Nacua has had record-setting and league-leading campaigns, Matthew Stafford has an MVP, Kyren Williams has three straight 1,000-yard seasons, and the team successfully replaced Rob Havenstein midseason with Warren McClendon \u2013\u00a0a move that actually made them better. Dotson had a piece in all of those.<\/p>\n
At some point, the question likely comes down to Steve Avila or Dotson. Avila is a great player, but the problem is that the contract he deserves will probably be more than the Rams are willing to pay. While Avila is the younger player, Dotson’s communication and overall intelligence have given the Rams the cutting edge, as Dotson has helped cover certain deficiencies from McClendon and Coleman Shelton.<\/p>\n
Plus, it’s easier to replace a left guard thanks to Alaric Jackson’s presence. Dotson is a main line of communication, his play is unquestioned, and he’s a leader. Sometime this season, the Rams need to extend Dotson and ensure he remains their starting right guard for several more years.<\/p>\n
Expert NFL picks: Exclusive betting insights only at USA TODAY.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Updated April 11, 2026, 5:58 p.m. PT Kevin Dotson’s contract with the Los Angeles Rams is set to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":864751,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2079],"tags":[95878,7,1014,58,2444,2611,6,424,95922,95923,95882,95946,96327,97056,95924,95927,95906,96813,102924,95883,103570,103571,95881],"class_list":{"0":"post-864750","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles-rams","8":"tag-accessfree","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-los-angeles","11":"tag-los-angeles-rams","12":"tag-losangeles","13":"tag-losangelesrams","14":"tag-nfl","15":"tag-rams","16":"tag-sstssportsnflrams","17":"tag-sstsnrams","18":"tag-tagamerican-football","19":"tag-tagcalifornia-gold-rush","20":"tag-tagkevin-dotson","21":"tag-tagkyren-williams","22":"tag-taglos-angeles-rams","23":"tag-tagmatthew-stafford","24":"tag-tagoverall-positive","25":"tag-tagpuka-nacua","26":"tag-tagrob-havenstein","27":"tag-tagsports-news","28":"tag-tagsteve-avila","29":"tag-tagwarren-mcclendon-jr","30":"tag-typestory"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116391417210917060","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/864750","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=864750"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/864750\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/864751"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=864750"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=864750"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=864750"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}