Tik tok, tik tok. While the Los Angeles Rams and veteran quarterback Matthew Stafford engage in a million-dollar game of chicken to see which side blinks first, the team's laundry list of personnel actions to prepare for the 2025 NFL season continues to grow. Yes, contract (re)negotiations to get Stafford willing to return to the Rams 2025 training camp take top billing for the team's offseason circuit, but it's not the only action needed.
In my mind, it's not even the most important contract this offseason
The Los Angeles Rams lucked out in a huge way when they started formerly undrafted Iowa left tackle Alaric Jackson to an NFL starter. While not an All-Pro, Jackson was more than 'serviceable,' as he took over the role from oft-injured swing tackle Joe Noteboom in 2022. Since then, Jackson has been the starting blind-side offensive tackle for the Rams offensive line for 2.5 years, suiting up for 2,285 offensive snaps, and being a dependable buttress on the left side of the Rams offensive line.
In the 2025 NFL Playoffs, he did not allow a single quarterback sack in 124 offensive snaps. That's not something that the team can be sure to get if they sign a free agent or draft his replacement.
Why do Rams face a huge void at left tackle in 2025?
The LA Rams signed Alaric Jackson to a second-round Qualifying Tender Offer in 2024. While that extension was certainly team-friendly in terms of cost for a starting left tackle, it kicked the can down the road over a true multi-year contract extension for the formidable left tackle. If the Rams needed proof that Jackson was worth a new multi-year deal by putting him on a one-year prove it deal in 2024, they certainly got all the proof needed.
Per Pro Football Focus, Jackson was a superb bargain at left tackle, suiting up for 893 offensive snaps, committing seven penalties and allowing three quarterback sacks. He put up a 79.5 grade at pass blocking, and a 75.9 grade at run blocking in 2024, very good numbers at left tackle. What's more, he is one of the few starting left tackles that are currently projected to hit free agency, and his market could be furiously active at his current projected fair market price that is estimated at approximately $15 million per year.
Multiple NFL teams are expected to bid for Jackson:
🚨PROJECTION: #Rams standout tackle Alaric Jackson is projected to sign a 3-YEAR, $45 MILLION CONTRACT.
Jackson is only 26 years old and is 6 foot 7 and 344 pounds, one of the premiere tackles.
The #Patriots, #Chiefs, #Ravens, and #Bears are considered fits for Jackson. pic.twitter.com/eD01rrsdzC— MLFootball (@_MLFootball) February 20, 2025
While the LA Rams are notoriously ineffective at outbidding multiple suitors for the services of a free agent, the team has plenty of incentive to get a deal down with Alaric Jackson in 2025. Here's why:
Why should Rams extend Alaric Jackson quickly
When it comes to roster building for a chance to win a Super Bowl, chemistry is every bit as vital as skill. There is no doubt that Alaric Jackson is a productive but humble workhorse on the offensive line. When he starts, the Rams pass protection levels up, giving quarterback Matthew Stafford much more confidence in reading the football field before releasing the football.
Even now, as the Rams hope to lure Stafford back for the final two seasons on his current contract, extending Alaric Jackson has to be viewed as getting both sides that much closer to finding common ground. But let'd dig a bit deeper. Why should the Rams get a new deal done with Jackson quickl? Here's why:
(1) - Rams offensive line needs his dependable play on the blind side
When the 2024 NFL season opened, Alaric Jackson had to serve a two-game suspension. While Rob Havenstein was out in Week 1 in addition to Alaric Jackson, the Rams offensive line allowed seven quarterback sacks in those first two games without Jackson on the football field. Stafford would only be sacked 21 more times in his remaining 14 games with Jackson playing.
That's outstanding.
Alaric Jackson may have fought through an ankle injury in 2024 training camp, but he is a durable performer who gives no-fuss dependability to a group that needs to show a much higher level of continuity after several seasons of offensive linemen injuries. The question falls to a fundamental assessment: If not Alaric Jackson at left tackle, then who?
More Rams offseason news:
(2) - Rams have solid young core on OL with Alaric Jackson at LT
If you step back and view the Rams starting offensive linemen from the 2024 NFL season purely from an age of players, you will find that the team has a pretty solid core of young starters who will only develop together and improve over time. They are:
- LT Alaric Jackson - 26 years old
- LG Steve Avila - 25 years old
- C Beaux Limmer - 23 years old
- RG Kevin Dotson - 28 years old
- RT Rob Havenstein - 32 years old
- PLUS THESE KEY BACKUPS
- IOL Justin Dedich - 24 years old
- OT Warren McClendon Jr. - 23 years old
- IOL Jonah Jackson - 28 years old
- OT K.T. Leveston - 25 years old
If you apply the Goldilocks measure to the team's current offensive linemen, you will find that Alaric Jackson is neither too old nor too young. That is another way of saying that the guy is just right in terms of age, and he is almost surely about to hit the prime of his NFL career over the next several seasons.
While you may view the age of a player as the least characteristic to measure the value of a player, it is relevant in that the team wants to remain competitive in 2025 and beyond. By securing Alaric Jackson on a new multi-year deal, the team needn't focus on a starting left tackle in the 2025 NFL Draft or in free agency. That frees the team up to investigate other positions that could yield significant upgrades. Such as:
(3) - Rams draft takes a sharp turn north if team can land top play-maker
In almost all credible mock drafts to date, NFL Draft analysts project the LA Rams to land one of the top offensive tackles available in the 2025 NFL Draft. While that makes complete sense in terms of what if...? scenarios where the team lets Alaric Jackson walk in free agency if the Rams extend Alaric Jackson, the options at the 26th overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft explode with a bevy of other elite play-maker options.
It would be a huge crime to this team to be pigeon-holed into drafting an offensive tackle because they must immediately address an unexpected hole in the starting offensive line. There are not mulligans by the time the draft arrives. While the team can find contributors throughout the three-day event, that first selection truly sets the pace of all other picks that follow.
An offensive tackle may make sense at that 26th pick as the best player available on the board, and the Rams could be warranted in choosing him as a successor to veteran right tackle Rob Havenstein. But what if a game-changer tight end or wide receiver is there? I want the Rams to harbor as many options as they have had in the past two drafts.
(4) - Nobody performed like Alaric Jackson did at LT in 2024
We can gain a bit of insight if we look over the way backups performed for the team in 2024. For example, backup center Beaux Limmer outplayed the starters when he was finally given the chance to start for the Rams last season. Even after the team reverted to IOL Jonah Jackson at center, it was clear that Limmer was the best option for the role.
Undrafted inside linebacker Omar Speights struggled to make the starting lineup. But once veteran ILB Troy Reeder fell to injury, Speights proved once and for all that he deserved to start in this defense. And his rookie season is just the beachhead of much better things to come.
Even backup quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, in one game with backup receivers, topped the team's passing yards for the 2024 NFL season. That's not an indictment against starting quarterback Matthew Stafford as much as it proves that a solid backup can play a vital role throughout the season.
But in the first two games of the season, neither swing tackle Joe Noteboom nor backup OT A.J. Arcuri could manage to replicate Alaric Jackson's dominance at the position.
Yes, the team faces multiple competing needs this offseason, and the Rams front office is undoubtedly weighing the best options to make the biggest roster upgrades this offseason. That 'best upgrades,' path is not a straight line. Rather, it will take the shape of a series of dominoes that must fall the right way.
I believe the first domino to fall must be an extension of Alaric Jackson. If the team is scrambling on draft day to find a starting left tackle, that places the entire off-season in a huge hole to recover from. If the Rams can extend Alaric Jackson, much like the 2024 extension for IOL Kevin Dotson, that is a huge victory from which the team can springboard for even more offseason wins.
Let's see how it all plays out. As always, thanks for reading.
