according to OvertheCap<\/a>. There\u2019s a lot of room to play with here. It also hinges on the future of Matthew Stafford. Should the quarterback, who turns 38 years old in February, retire, the Rams would open another $6.4 million in cap space, but would likely have to use a chunk of their cap to find a new quarterback since the team appears to be out of range for a rookie in what might be a one-quarterback draft. A Davante Adams retirement would also free up $14 million in space. The most likely cap casualty is Darious Williams, which would create $7.5 million in cap space.<\/p>\nAdvertisement<\/p>\n
Key pending free agents<\/p>\n
S Kam Curl
OL Rob Havenstein
TE Tyler Higbee
WR Tutu Atwell<\/p>\n
Curl was a bargain signing in free agency two years ago when the safety market tanked, and he\u2019s been an integral part of the back end of the Rams\u2019 defense. Curl led all defensive backs in tackles and was fourth among safeties in defeats (a run stopped at or behind the line of scrimmage), per FTN. Havenstein has been a big piece of the Rams\u2019 offensive line, but in his absence, Warren McClendon Jr. has played excellent at right tackle (12th in pass block win rate and second in run block win rate) and could be a cheaper path forward at the position.<\/p>\n
Positional needs<\/p>\n
Cornerback
Wide receiver
Linebacker<\/p>\n
Advertisement<\/p>\n
Outside corner was the one place where the Rams\u2019 defense could get picked on this season. On throws to outside receivers, the Rams ranked fourth in EPA per play, but were 28th in yards allowed per attempt. Some splash plays on the outside covered up some overall weaknesses, but that\u2019s a tough way to live for an extended period of time. The wide receiver need depends on Davante Adams. If he returns, the Rams could still upgrade at the third receiver spot when the offense is in 11 personnel \u2014 a more consistent deep threat could be on the table. If Adams retires \u2014 he joked he\u2019ll retire when Stafford retires earlier in the season \u2014 then a bigger need for a No. 2 receiver behind Puka Nacua becomes immediate. Getting a linebacker with a little more coverage range could be helpful. Omar Speights was 16th at the position in yards allowed per coverage snap, while Nate Landman was 52nd.<\/p>\n
2026 NFL Draft picks<\/p>\n
1st round, pick No. 13 (ATL)
1st round, pick No. 29
2nd round
3rd round
5th round
6th round (CLE)
6th round
7th round (BAL)
7th round (projected compensatory)
7th round (projected compensatory)<\/p>\n
Good draft fit<\/p>\n
Jermod McCoy, CB, Tennessee<\/p>\n
Advertisement<\/p>\n
If McCoy\u2019s injury profile were clean, he\u2019d probably be the first cornerback taken. But he didn\u2019t play a snap this past season after tearing his ACL during offseason training last year. That might push him to the bottom of either of the Rams\u2019 picks in the mid- or late first round. McCoy has good size, and if he retains his pre-injury movement, he could be a difference-maker on the outside.<\/p>\n
Betting nugget<\/p>\n
The Rams were one of the NFL\u2019s best teams against the spread this regular season at 12-5, the franchise\u2019s best mark against the number since 1999 when the Rams went 13-3 ATS. \u2014 Ben Fawkes<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The NFL offseason has begun, and Yahoo Sports is previewing the coming months for all 32 teams, from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":130083,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[11593,1535,34830,10834,74203,48,52,51,47,50,49,771,39225,29445,752,47889,40684,43965,10948,10947,11618,11599,11596,572,11535,11537],"class_list":["post-149784","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-bengals","tag-chargers","tag-darious-williams","tag-davante-adams","tag-kam-curl","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-matthew-stafford","tag-nate-landman","tag-nfc-west","tag-nfl","tag-omar-speights","tag-packers","tag-panthers","tag-puka-nacua","tag-rams","tag-rob-havenstein","tag-seahawks","tag-steelers","tag-tennessee","tag-tutu-atwell","tag-tyler-higbee"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149784","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=149784"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149784\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/130083"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=149784"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=149784"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=149784"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}