Ah, yes, the Los Angeles Rams are racing through another summertime lull before the real work begins. The 2025 Rams Training Camp is not just an annual event for players and coaches to regroup for a new NFL season. It's more than a time to sweat off the off-season muffin rolls. It's even more than restoring football pads to football players to remind everyone vying for a roster spot that football is a highly competitive and violent sport that features grown men clashing on the field with every snap of the football.
This is a team that fell short of its goal a mere matter of months ago. And that means that the Los Angeles Rams are a football team with a singular focus. This team must be prepared to defeat all other NFL teams as it jockeys for a favorable berth in the NFL Playoffs. It must also ensure that players are durable and rested throughout the year to be even more effective when the postseason arrives.
For veterans, it's a time to truly pay all of their knowledge, experience, and wisdom gleaned from past elite players forward to motivate, educate, and reassure young players who are facing their first NFL training camp.
For rookies and other younger players, this is a time to watch, but also to be seen. It's a time to listen intently, but also to be heard. It's a time in an NFL player's career to get comfortable in his skin, and be as confident sitting and paying attention in a team meeting as he is leading a team meeting. It's a time to trust teammates and coaches, but also to prove to everyone that he can be trusted
It is that time when all individuals become a team, when everyone grows so confident in their own abilities that they willingly and freely compliment the actions of others.
At the same time, the coaching staff must roll up their sleeves and get to work. The Rams failed to achieve their goals in 2024, which means that coaches must now figure out what went wrong (not who to blame), and install corrections in place to avoid similar shortcomings in 2025.
We are going to try something new. We'll cover five main questions that must be answered during training camp, the issue that was not accomplished in 2024, and how the team hopes to correct that in 2025. Let's dive right in:
(5) - Can this team really commit to Tutu Atwell's larger role in 2025?
In four seasons competing for offensive snaps and targets in the Rams offense, wide receiver Tutu Atwell amassed 99 catches from 164 targets for 1,343 yards and four touchdowns. He also rushed 16 times for 72 yards and one touchdown. Somehow, the Rams felt that modest production warranted a one-year deal worth $10 million. And as funny as it may seem, they may be correct.
In four NFL seasons and 54 NFL games, Atwell has just 1,430 offensive snaps and just 164 targets. Many starters in this offense get that much work in one season. So it had to be a matter of Atwell not making the most of his opportunities.
Nope, that's not it either. Atwell has made the most of his light workload. In 2024, he caught 67.7 percent of his passes for 562 yards. 42 receptions generated 29 first downs. 126 yards, or 22.4 percent of his receiving yards, were yards after the catch. While he may not be as physical or as difficult to tackle as either WR Puka Nacua or Jordan Whittington, he possesses unmatched speed.
Atwell has improved his production, both as a receiver and as a blocker, every season. Had he been thrown to 110 times last season with all other factors being the same, he would have broken the 1000 receiving yards landmark. The Rams have thrown that often to WRs Cooper Kupp and Puka Nacua in the past. So the question is, can this offense carve out a significant role for Atwell in 2025?
It may not find it necessary.
The truth is that Atwell has gotten better every season. Last season, he improved his catching from 58.2 to 67.7 percent. He also upgraded his yards per reception from 12.4 to 13.4 yards per catch. If he can continue the trend to catch 70.0 percent of the passes thrown his way and put up over 14.0 yards per catch, he will only need to be targeted 102 times. If he can improve to a 75 percent catch rate and 15 yards per catch, he would only need to be targeted 89 times.
Of course, we can work the numbers to tell us anything we want, so that is not what we should focus on. Let's see how other wide receivers who earn in the $10 million range fare in the NFL recently. We can get salary cap data from Spotrac.com for this quick review:
- Jets WR Allan Lazard - $11 million | 530 receiving yards | 61.7 % catch | 6 TDs
- Raiders WR Jakobi Meyers - $11 million | 1027 receiving yards | 67.4 % catch | 4 TDs
- Giants WR Darius Slayton - $12 million | 573 receiving yards | 54.9 % catch | 2 TDs
- Rams WR Tutu Atwell - $10 million | 562 receiving yards | 67.7 % catch | 0 TDs
- Jaguars WR Dyami Brown - $10 million | 308 receiving yards | 75.0 % catch | 1 TD
- Bills WR Josh Palmer - $9.7 million | 584 receiving yards | 60.0 % catch | 1 TD
Well, would you look at that? Almost every Rams fan expects the $10 million payday to veteran wide receiver Tutu Atwell to indicate some renewed commitment. But at that price, the team appears to simply be compensating him for the level of his production in 2024.
We'll talk about his at length soon. Right now, let's tackle the Rams inside linebacker position:
(4) - Can Rams sort out the depth at inside linebacker?
The Rams may not have invested enough into the inside linebacker position to expect All-Pro levels of production from the group, but the team has invested a significant amount of attention and players to rework the position to the new specifications of DC Chris Shula. So what's the challenge? Like a child trying to order an ice cream cone at Baskin Robbins, this defense has never had so many quality options before.
So, where to start? Let's start with our first projected Rams depth chart for the ILB position, and then discuss the competition between various players.
- LILB - Nate Landman | Omar Speights | Elias Neal
- RILB - Pooh Paul Jr. | Shaun Dolac | Troy Reeder | Tony Fields II
Intriguing? Here's why the Rams depth chart will emerge from training camp like this. Let's start with the keystone position, the run-stuffer. You may think that the Rams view veteran ILB Nate Landman in a dead heat with last year's starter, Omar Speights. I don't see it as neck and neck at all. And it starts with their size and power.
While Omar Speights is a powerful 6-foot-1, 228-pound inside linebacker who proved he can stuff the run last season, the team has to like the upside of a more experienced 6-foot-3, 235-pound veteran inside linebacker in Nate Landman. The Rams have not hesitated to turn over the keys to this defense to Landman, and have not hesitated to express praise at how he has run the defense so far. But when the pads go on, that is when the more powerful Landman will separate himself from his teammates.
The other starting role gets sticky. I know in my head and heart that the Rams want to give the other staring inside linebacker position to veteran ILB Troy Reeder, but two thoughts prevent me from reflecting that in my depth chart. The first thought is the recollection of how both Reeder and Rozeboom seemed to be routinely pancaked in 2024. That type of sight is hard to forget.
The second thought was discussed in a recent article and was based on how Rams LB Coach Greg Williams described his top linebackers so far through minicamp. I created a table of the key points from Coach Williams' comments, as shown below:
- Nate Landman - Landman transitioning "seamlessly" into the Rams' defense
- Pooh Paul Jr. - Paul's aggressiveness impresses: "He's a football guy"
- Omar Speights - Omar Speights is "the definition of preparation and professionalism"
- Troy Reeder - Troy Reeder provides "a comfort level"
- Shaun Dolac - Shaun Dolac "could teach you the defense right now"
I just don't translate the endorsement for veteran Troy Reeder as 'That's my starter for 2025.' I can't even translate it into a 'he's made the roster,' comment. We'll know more when the team competes in preseason games. For now, I expect the team to sit ILBs Nate Landman and rookie Pooh Paul Jr. in preseason games. The fans will still get thrills to see undrafted rookie ILB Shaun Dolac run the defense, and that is something that I am especially looking forward to.
Finally, the team cannot simply send Landman and Speights onto the football field together and hope for the best. The Rams have to wisely pair up their linebackers. The optimal configuration I see for the 2025 season is matching Landman with rookie Pooh Paul Jr. That is subject to change, but it's what I am going with for now.
(3) - Will Rams adopt a running-back-by-committee strategy in 2025?
The Rams need to engineer a far more effective rushing effort in 2025. Not only was the Rams ground assault sub-par for a team competing in the NFL Playoffs, but this team has plenty of talent in the running back room that seemed to be squandered last season. And that is a problem.
The team carried four healthy running backs on the roster last season but never introduced more than one running back on any given play. That automatically sets the efficiency in the running back room to just 25 percent. But it gets worse. The Rams fixated on just one of the four running backs in 2024. See if you can detect who that might have been:
- RB Blake Corum | 58 carries | 207 yards | 0 TDs | 14.6 % carries | 12.9 % yards
- RB Ronnie Rivers | 22 carries | 99 yards | 0 TDs | 5.5 % carries | 6.2 % yards
- RB Cody Schrader | 1 carry | 3 yards | 0 TDs | 0.8 % carries | 0.2 % yards
- RB Kyren Williams | 316 carries | 1,299 yards | 14 TDs | 80.0 % carries | 80.8 % yards
Can you see the problem? The Rams retained four running backs on the roster but ran starting RB Kyren Williams into the ground. That strategy creates three problems: First and foremost, the lopsided workload distribution burns out the team's top running back, creating unnecessary fatigue and exposing him to an unnecessarily high risk of injury.
Worse yet, when Williams falls to injury or needs a rest in a hotly contested game, who do you send in? The lack of work keeps other running backs from attaining the proficiency and consistency needed to develop into a viable NFL starter. And it makes no sense to keep adding players to the running back room if the plan is to sit them on the bench.
The Rams roster is up to six running backs for the 2025 NFL season. By my calculations, the team should part ways with half that many, or three running backs. But that still leaves three runners to share the workload. And with the likes of Kyren Williams, Blake Corum, and Jarques Hunter are ideally suited for a running-back-by-committee approach.
The team effectively deployed a balanced distribution of carries in 2020, when the team packaged the rushing of rookie RB Cam Akers, change of pace RB Darrell Henderson, and power RB Malcolm Brown to put up over 2000 rushing yards. For comparison's sake, the Rams only rushed for 1,785 yards in 2024.
With Kyren Williams, Blake Corum, and Jarquez Hunter, the team can prove to be a much more effective rushing offense by doing a far better job of balancing out the workload and involving a larger number of players. It may not make sense, but it gets proven results.I
(2) - Can this defense stop the run?
The Los Angeles Rams' defense was the cheapest in the NFL in 2024. While the young defense rallied for stingy efforts as the team made its playoff run, the defense struggled to stop the run. Of course, any defense that faced Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley was bound to struggle, and the Eagles shredded the Rams run defense twice last season: Once during the regular season, and once in the NFL Playoffs.
So the question that has to be answered this year is whether the defense can stop the run. Not only are the Eagles on the Rams Schedule this season, but the Rams defense must face the top four running backs from last season. So the run defense must be a huge priority this year.
It's no surprise that the Rams did not master the new defensive strategy of DC Chris Shula in 2024. It was Coach Shula's maiden voyage running the defense, and evidence of unfamiliarity among players, coaches, and even the front office was everywhere. The teams traded away the projected starting inside linebacker and leading tackler, Ernest Jones IV, just before the season arrived.
The defense was down two key defensive backs in Week 1 and lost another key DB by Week 3. Even starting ILB Troy Reeder suffered a season-ending injury in Week 7. So, along with learning a new defense, the team had to roll with the punches suffered by an endless stream of injuries. Of 11 defensive positions, the Rams played more than 30 different players.
The lack of familiarity with the new defense was amplified significantly by a drastically changing roster, and the lack of understanding of how to optimize players as they rotated onto and off the football field.
With so many distractions, defensive players struggled to tackle. Seems pretty bleak, doesn't it? Well, never believe that something that is broken cannot be fixed.
Rams focused on boosting the run defense
If you consider the players added to the defense in the offseason, two repetitive themes emerge. The team wanted to ensure that veterans and rookies could defend the run, and the defense opened the door for versatile defenders. Players who can slide between two or more roles on the defense offer far better utility to a defensive coordinator who loves to use every tool in the box to frustrate offensive coordinators.
The additions of NT Poona Ford, rookie DT Ty Hamilton, ILB Nate Landman, and rookie ILBs Pooh Paul Jr. and Shaun Dolac afford the defense enough run stuffers and wild cards or concoct multiple anti-run strategies that will keep offenses off-balance.
Perhaps the greatest obstacle in this defense is raising the bar of tackling. While the obvious solution is to dedicate plenty of training to executing effective tackling, that is not any way to guarantee that players will carry over that skill into games. The Rams coaching staff must emphasize tackling, but not to the point of adversely affecting the pass rush or pass coverage.
Another method of improving tackling is ensuring that players tackle. Give players who consistently miss tackles less playing time. Eventually, tackling rates will trend in the right direction.
(1) - Will rookie TE Terrance Ferguson get a chance to impact the offense?
The Los Angeles Rams knew that veteran TE Tyler Higbee faced a long road to recovery after a serious ACL injury. As a result, the team signed free agent tight end Colby Parkinson to a multi-year deal at a price point that suggested Parkinson would take over as the primary tight end in the Rams offense.
Parkinson failed to get the job done, and after the Rams Week 6 BYE, the offense began to experiment by giving more offensive snaps to Hunter Long and Davis Allen. But it was not until the team was able to get TE Tyler Higbee on the football field in Week 14 that the offense began to get production from the position.
Should Rams fans expect more from rookie TE Terrance Ferguson than three veteran tight ends were able to deliver in 2025? Let's focus on the changes due for the Rams in 2025.
New TE Coach and Pass Game Coordinators
The Rams hired former Seattle Seahawks OL Coach Scott Huff to take over as the Rams TE Coach, and promoted offensive assistant Nate Scheelhaase to a new role of Pass Game Coordinator. You may expect the Rams' emphasis on the tight end position to be on blocking tight ends with the hiring of a long-standing offensive line coach to coach up the tight end position.
But you should not ignore the fact that Coach Huff was a tight-end coach for the Boise State Broncos in 2006 and from 2010-2013. So coaching tight end is not exactly foreign to him. Nor is it wise to ignore the synergy of a former NFL OL coach educating tight ends in one of the most difficult tasks for a rookie tight end to master, blocking. Keep in mind that the Rams' former tight end coach, Nick Caley, accepted the Offensive Coordinator role for the Houston Texans.
So the Rams had an opportunity to recalibrate the coaching staff.
Still, some may view Coach Huff as a step in the wrong direction for an offense that needs to get as much offensive output as quickly as possible from the rookie. But you should not the tight end position as a separate and insulated enclave in 2025. Early indications from OTAs and minicamp are that HC Sean McVay, a former tight end coach for the Washington Commanders, is rediscovering his roots by spending a lot of time with Ferguson.
Of course, Terrance Ferguson is still a rookie, and he shows it in this social media video:
TFerg tells his firsts! pic.twitter.com/a7MNowZr2n
— Los Angeles Rams (@RamsNFL) July 6, 2025
But what are his chances of becoming an impact player in the offense this season? Better than you may think. The Rams' offense no longer has the luxury of waiting for some tight end to step up and prove a capability of taking over when Tyler Higbee hangs up his cleats. This offense has to get Terrance Ferguson up to speed quickly.
That is why the Rams drafted Ferguson. That is why HC Sean McVay is spending so much time with him. And that is why you will see rookie TE Terrance Ferguson getting a surprising number of offensive snaps and targets this season.
The Rams will ramp up Ferguson's frequency in the offense in training camp, not just to fast-track his development, but to see how he handles the stress test of a heavy workload.
The rest will be up to Ferguson.
As always, thanks for reading.
