Every immediate move that the Los Angeles Rams have made this offseason is a move that helps the defense. The Rams didn’t do anything to help the offense next season—that we know about yet, at least.
Third-round pick Keagan Trost could be the closest to seeing the field, among new players on offense. Every single starter, and most of the key backups, were on L.A.’s roster last year. So will it be the same? Yes and no.
These 5 predictions will be familiar, but different.
Matthew Stafford doesn’t reach 4,000 yards
The additions of Myles Garrett,
Trent McDuffie, and Jaylen Watson should help the Rams allow fewer points in 2026, giving Sean McVay more opportunities to lean on a balanced, ball-control offense. A better defense means fewer shootouts, more fourth-quarter leads, and fewer Sundays in which Stafford has to throw 40 or 45 passes just to keep pace.
That’s good for the Rams, even if it’s bad for Stafford’s MVP case.
Stafford threw for 4,707 yards in his MVP campaign, only the second 4,000-yard season of his Rams career. Both of those seasons required roughly 600 pass attempts.
In 2024, Stafford attempted only 517 passes—his fewest in any career season with at least 11 starts. I expect him to be closer to 500 attempts than 600 again in 2026, especially if the Rams spend more time protecting leads.
But as you can see, Stafford averaged 600 passing attempts in the two seasons with at least 4,000 yards. A better Rams team means fewer Stafford passing attempts, and hence fewer yards.
- Stafford won’t throw for 4,000 yards.
- He won’t reach 40 touchdown passes.
- He won’t lead the NFL in pass attempts.
- He probably won’t repeat as MVP.
If Stafford falls short of another MVP trophy because the Rams don’t need him to carry the offense every week, Sean McVay will happily make that trade.
Puka Nacua sets career-high for yards per game (Over 108)
This would be no small accomplishment given that Nacua led the NFL with 107.2 yards per game in 2025, and he is the all-time career leader with 95.3 yards per game in his career. That number figures to go up again in 2026 and the only question I really have about Puka Nacua is how many games will he actually be available for?
The easiest way to project the Rams’ passing offense is to ask one question: Why would Stafford stop throwing to the best receiver in football?
Nacua’s off-field setbacks have been well-documented, but his injury history is the bigger obstacle at play for his availability.
Nacua missed six games in 2024 and still nearly reached 1,000 yards anyway.
After Cooper Kupp’s release in 2025, Nacua was set free to face no challengers as Stafford’s number one receiver. Not even Davante Adams, who missed three games and isn’t the high-volume target threat he used to be. Aside from Nacua and Adams:
- Tutu Atwell was a re-sign bust
- Jordan Whittington is a limited backup option
- Tyler Higbee is past his prime
- Terrance Ferguson was not ready for primetime
- Kyren Williams isn’t much as a dual threat back
These facts left Stafford with few other options besides throwing to Nacua, which is a smart choice anyway because he’s arguably the best skill player in the NFL. Nacua was third in the NFL in yards against man coverage, per Next Gen Stats:
And first in missed tackles on receptions, well ahead of most wide receivers:
What’s changed in 2026 that would make us think Stafford won’t continue to feed Nacua like a hungry alligator? Absolutely nothing.
Because the Rams didn’t draft Makai Lemon. They didn’t bring in another veteran to challenge Whittington or Adams. They re-signed Higbee.
L.A.’s second-most targeted player in 2026 could be Adams or Colby Parkinson, and Parkinson only had 56 targets despite being such a clear number three option.
So while I’m stopping short of declaring that Nacua will reach 1,800 yards because I’m not sure how available he’s going to be for 17 games, I do believe he could reach 110 yards per game. Not only is he talented, now he’s also got even more to prove.
Blake Corum reaches 1,000 yards
The Rams extended Kyren Williams to a three-year, $33 million contract last year, but they will have a clear opportunity to pivot in 2027 if L.A. feels like they have an option who is just as good or better. Corum is the most obvious player to be that option and the second half of last season could be an indication of that pivot.
Although these types of comparisons can be misleading, Corum rushed for 429 yards and 6.1 YPC in the final seven games of the regular season:
Kyren rushed for 502 yards and 5.0 YPC in the same games:
Again, this does not mean that Corum is as good or better.
For one thing, Kyren’s presence could help Corum’s stats. McVay could be setting Corum up to have better rushing opportunities when he’s on the field. And Corum’s sample size is smaller, meaning that his next 30 rushing attempts, if he had gotten them, could have averaged 1.5 yards per carry. We just can’t say for sure.
However, we can say that Corum was drafted into the NFL with a lot of talent, the type of athleticism fit for a starting running back. When L.A. extended Williams, they didn’t know how good Corum could be last season.
What we saw was just enough of a glimpse of a starter to believe a change could come.
In the playoffs, Corum averaged 4.6 YPC on 26 attempts, compared to 4.2 YPC on 44 attempts for Kyren. This is a good 1-2 punch, but then there’s Jarquez Hunter, waiting in the wings as a recent fourth-round pick as someone who wants to be the next Blake Corum…so that he can become the next Kyren Williams.
If momentum builds from September to December to see more of Corum, and if the Rams feel he’s good enough to start in 2027, L.A. would save over $6.4 million to release Williams next year. Because we know have a better idea that Corum is good enough to start, we should not be surprised if the change happens right under our noses.
Max Klare displaces Terrance Ferguson
The decision to draft a second-round tight end one year after drafting a second-round tight end should be not be immediately dismissed as being unrelated to Sean McVay’s feelings about Ferguson’s first season. Even if it’s coming from McVay himself, who said that the Rams didn’t draft Klare for that reason:
McVay said “they don’t lack anything in any of those four” – referring to Tyler Higbee, Colby Parkinson, Davis Allen and Terrance Ferguson – when asked if the addition of Klare’s skill set was a reflection of something that wasn’t present in the tight end room already or more of what those returning players are already good at.
“All four of them are productive in both phases,” McVay said. “So that’s what you’re looking for. If you’re going to be treated like a tight end, you got to be an extension of the run surface. You got to be functional enough that to be used as one of the five eligibles. And so (Klare) does do that.”
Well, maybe that’s how he genuinely feels, or maybe it’s what McVay should say when the team is not giving up on Ferguson. Not yet.
It seems more like this to me:
- McVay values a TE room with at least 3 starting-caliber players
- McVay will run a lot of 12 and 13 personnel
- McVay would rather pick 3 out of 5, rather than 3 out of 4—because he has doubts
But if the Rams truly felt that good about Ferguson being “productive in both phases”, meaning as a receiver and a blocker, would L.A. have drafted Klare? Would they have re-signed Higbee? Would they have kept Parkinson? Would they have not traded Allen?
The Rams go into training camp with five tight ends worthy of the 53-man roster, plus their highest-paid undrafted free agent in Dan Villari.
I don’t expect Villari to make the roster, but what do you imagine will happen if Villari is outstanding next month? They’re not going to cut him.
Fans don’t use the word “disastrous” for rookies. They expect mistakes. And with McVay, they expect rookies to spend a year in the doghouse. But Ferguson’s rookie year was bad, no matter how you look at it. Prior to catching a touchdown in each of the last two games, Ferguson had caught only 6 of 17 targets:
In his first playoff game, he went 1-of-5, but to be fair that was in Chicago.
McVay has never expressed any concerns about Ferguson, insisting that he’s on the right developmental path, but context clues paint a different picture. Klare has a chance now to prove that not all rookies have to live in McVay’s doghouse.
There are only so many snaps to go around, so if Parkinson ends up as TE1, and Higbee at least demands a role as one of McVay’s favorites, where does that leave Klare, Ferguson, and Allen?
It means that it takes only the smallest of margins for Klare to displace Ferguson on the pecking order. This isn’t a TE3 becoming a TE1. This is the case of a TE4 becoming a TE3, if Ferguson can’t hold him off.
Klare had little issue being a staple of both the Purdue and Ohio State offenses in each of the last two seasons of college. With a strong training camp, Klare might end up being a Matthew Stafford favorite earlier than the tight end who was drafted a year ahead of him.
Rams lead NFL in efficiency, not scoring
Last season, the Rams led the NFL in scoring at 30.5 points per game, but they won’t repeat in 2026. Instead, L.A. will improve on their efficiency per play, which is even more important than scoring.
Because it’s not about scoring a lot of points. It’s about scoring the most points.
This wouldn’t be a bold prediction. The Rams didn’t just lead the NFL in offensive DVOA last season, they crushed the field by a mile, ranking lightyears ahead of the 49ers and ranking first in both passing and rushing DVOA in 2025:
These numbers per FTNFantasy.
Efficiency should continue the same. Maybe scoring slows down a bit.
As noted before, a better defense means there’s less of a need to score 40 points. The Rams had a good defense last year, but their chances could put L.A. into the top-five.
When you look at the rival Seahawks:
1st in points allowed
3rd in points scored
But not just that, because Seattle actually averaged more yards per pass attempt in 2025 than the Rams did. The Seahawks, like the Rams, had efficiency. L.A. was much better at running the football during the regular season.
These matchups should once again be interesting, same as the ones against San Francisco.
If the Rams don’t lead the NFL in scoring again, that’s okay. They should still be the most efficient, and that’s even better.
