Turf Show Times
How will the Rams look to build their wide receiver room in 2025?
The Los Angeles Rams made the shocking decision this week to trade wide receiver Cooper Kupp this offseason. Given Kupp’s near $30-million cap-hit, the decision is more shocking than surprising. However, as discussed previously, it was the first domino that needed to fall to fix the Rams offense this offseason.
Following the season, Rams head coach Sean McVay was quoted saying,
“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.”
It’s pretty clear that changes are coming to the offense and the personnel within it. The Rams aren’t simply going to run it back with the same group of wide receivers or offensive play-makers and hope for a different result. It’s pretty telling that the offense lacks explosiveness and playmakers when they ranked ninth in success rate, but only 15th in EPA per play. From a play-to-play perspective, they were a successful unit. They finished 10th in DVOA. However, they also had the fifth most plays per drive, but ranked just 15th in scores per drive.
The goal for this offseason is going to be to get more explosive. McVay needs to find ways to make things easier for the offense. The decision to move on from Kupp speaks to the team completely shifting what they want the overall identity of the offense to look like.
Heading into the 2025 offseason, the Rams will have Puka Nacua and Jordan Whittington as the only starting wide receivers in the offense. Players like Quintez Cephus and Xavier Smith are under contract, but aren’t necessarily part of the long-term plan. Demarcus Robinson, TuTu Atwell, and Tyler Johnson are all free agents.
Looking at those three free agents, it’s hard to see the Rams running to the table to bring any of those three back. While Atwell has shown an ability to produce when given opportunities, it feels like it’s time for both sides to go their separate ways. It’s become clear that when all receivers are healthy, Atwell simply isn’t someone that consistently gets worked into a game plan. Again, that’s not to say he hasn’t produced. The former second-round pick finished with 2.19 yards per route which ranked 19th in the NFL.
That moves us to Demarcus Robinson. Robinson was brought in as a late offseason addition in 2023 and had his place in the offense as a lengthier receiver on the outside. With that said, it may be time to move on from him as well. Robinson has shown that he is no more than a third receiver in an offense. Over the final seven games of the season, he caught just seven of 21 targets. His -6.7% catch rate over expected was the seventh-worst among wide receivers with at least 50 targets. Robinson’s 51.7% catch rate was the fourth-worst in the NFL. He’s been...
