The Los Angeles Rams were at the forefront of the NFL’s 13 personnel movement last season. Expect more of the same from L.A. in 2026.
There is a “no duh” element to this, which was discussed all offseason: The Rams have and had so many tight ends on the roster. L.A. rostered eight tight ends during training camp, kept five on the season-opening 53-man roster, they have another one stashed on the practice squad and had even done so well scouting the position that they traded a likely cut candidate
for a Day 3 pick.
“Follow the money” is generally a smart way to look at the world in many contexts. For football, when factoring cash value, draft capital and roster spots into the general idea of “money,” it’s almost always instructive. The Rams told us what they wanted to do and they’re doing it, that’s hardly a surprise.
But it’s one thing to want to do something, it’s another thing to commit to it, it’s something else entirely to be good at it.
An example of a team not hitting all three points, at least not yet, is the Cincinnati Bengals. They talked all offseason about deviating from the “Joe Burrow offense” and playing more from under center, using more play action, etc. They did a ton of work with it during the preseason.
In Week 1 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, though? They ran just five snaps of under-center play action, with Burrow going 3-of-5 for 29 yards. Every other dropback came from the shotgun. There were also 11 run plays from under center, not including sneaks and kneel downs, but that makes for a siloed and more predictable offense if under center almost always equals run, shotgun almost always equals pass.
What does that have to do with the Rams? They did hit all three points in the first game of the season. They have made it clear they want to continue using sets with extra tight ends, they ran those at a high rate in Week 1 and they did it to extreme success.
According to Next Gen Stats, Los Angeles ran 13 personnel on 36.8% of snaps against the San Francisco 49ers last week, 6.3 percentage points higher than their league-leading rate in 2025. And on a day when Matthew Stafford struggled mightily, he was at his best by far with 13 personnel on the field.
Again, per Next Gen Stats, Stafford went 5-of-5 passing for 96 yards with 13 personnel on the field; in all other personnel groupings, he was 10-of-20 for 59 yards. As a team, the Rams averaged 7.5 yards per play out of 13 personnel in Week 1, 1.3 yards more per play than they gained in those groupings last season.
The Rams talked the talk about 13 during the offseason, then walked the walk in the opener.
After an unpleasant offensive showing in the opener, Sean McVay has to feel like those 13 personnel stats are his personal Green Goblin mask, just calling out to him, tempting him. If that’s the so-called “easy button” for this offense, at least for now, that seems like a great way to buoy this team and find a way to get back in a rhythm. Don’t be shocked if the Rams another outrageous percentage of their plays out of those formations against the Giants on Monday night.
