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For the Rams offense to change where it needs to in 2025, moving on from Cooper Kupp was necessary
The Los Angeles Rams offense is going under another identity change this offseason following the team moving on from wide receiver Cooper Kupp. It won’t be the first time this has happened. Head coach Sean McVay has been one of the best at adjusting and improving the offense from a year-over-year basis. In 2021, the Rams moved to more of an under center, play-action game to more empty with Matthew Stafford at quarterback. Two years ago, the offense made arguably its biggest identity shift moving from a zone run scheme to more gap and duo concepts.
Coming off of a season in which the offense finished 15th in EPA per play and 13th from week 9-17, it’s not something that McVay will be content with. Even in 2023 with the offense dealing with injuries, the Rams offense finished 9th in EPA per play. It’s not often that a McVay offense finishes outside of the top-10 and the 2024 season was the first time that it happened since 2020 when they finished 23rd.
While 15th isn’t bad, it’s an average or above average standard that McVay has never settled for offensively. The most concerning part of the Rams offense was the lack of explosive plays. They ranked 15th in pass plays of 20 or more yards and just 19th in passes that traveled more than 20 yards in the air.
The offense struggled creating yards after catch. They finished 13th in yards after the catch per reception which was down from fifth in 2023. Their 5.44 yards after catch per reception was only .07 yards better than 2022 when Matthew Stafford and Cooper Kupp missed half of the season. That doesn’t even mention the run game in which they ranked 32nd in explosive run rate by nearly a full percentage.
Due to the lack of explosive plays, scoring for the Rams offense was hard. While they were efficient on a play-by-play standpoint, they averaged the fifth most plays per drive. However, unlike other teams in the top-5, they were just 15th in scores per drive. That was the lowest among the other teams in the top-5 in plays per drive. For comparison, the Rams were sixth in plays per drive in 2023, but they were also seventh in scores per drive.
After the season, McVay said about the offense,
“I think the biggest thing is there would be a little bit more versatility...How do you utilize the offseason and how are you making yourself more versatile from a personnel perspective or from a run variety perspective? Those are the things that I’m excited to be able to dive into. I was talking to Liam Coen the other day. One of the coolest things that I think is reflected about what a great job he did was you’ve got a background and then when you watch them evolve with Bucky Irving and...
