Entering his 10th NFL season as head coach of the Los Angeles Rams, Sean McVay has been the gold standard for culture building, player development, in-game schematics, and coaching discipleship. 2026 will feature his 5th offensive coordinator, 4th defensive coordinator, and 5th special teams coordinator. Sean McVay has remained the architect of the offense, although his recent hires have given interesting wrinkles and personnel packaging compared to the early years. The defense saw a drastic change from 2019 into the 2020 decade. While the special teams has never recovered since the days of John Fassel. Here’s a look down memory...

Our very own Ethan wrote about how much Ty Simpson could play in the 2026 season, and I’ve listened to Locked On Rams talk about Simpson’s future with the Los Angeles Rams, it all has me wondering will Simpson take any snaps in the NFL Preseason? Or not?

Sean McVay and his use of starters in preseason

Sean McVay’s plans in the preseason are always discussed as he typically chooses not to use key players. Back in 2017, he did play Jared Goff and some other notable names sparingly, but since that year, McVay has seemingly opted to rest...

Going into the 2025 season the Los Angeles Rams were worried about Matthew Stafford and his back, but no one exactly knew how worried. Now, it’s being shared by Sean McVay that the team was apparently very worried as Stafford and those around him truly wondered if he could suit up.

Of course, Stafford did suit up, and he went on to win the NFL MVP Award. It’s remarkable. From not knowing if he could play, to having the personal best season of his career.

It’s scary to know how close last year was to be potentially being a disaster...

New Los Angeles Rams QB Ty Simpson was a college starter for a good time instead of a long time. Simpson was arguably the best signal caller in all of college football through the first nine weeks of last season before a late downturn that can reasonably be explained by a rash of injuries.

His individual best game? I’d make an argument it came in Week 7 at Missouri.

While the box score doesn’t necessarily bear out an impressive performance, Missouri had the sixth-best defense in the NCAA according to Pro Football Focus (PFF) defensive grade. Simpson led the Crimson...

The Los Angeles Rams have received a lot of praise over the last few years for drafting Puka Nacua in the fifth round of the 2023 draft, but in the shadow of the best day three pick of the past decade is the fact that L.A. also did great on day two. That year, Rams general manager Les Snead also found Steve Avila, Kobie Turner, and Byron Young, all without a first round pick.

Pete Prisco of CBS Sports re-graded his thoughts after the 2023 draft and changed his evaluation of the Rams draft class from a solid B to...

I’ll never forget where I was when I watched Baker Mayfield’s debut with the Los Angeles Rams.

I was standing in the general admission section of The Granada Theater in Lawrence, Kansas, in attendance at a Flatland Cavalry concert. And while Cleto Cordero was crooning the lyrics to “If We Said Goodbye,” I had my phone in my right hand, trying to keep it out of other patrons’ sightlines as best as I could, watching a former first-overall pick try to save his career from the brink of collapse.

The Rams beat the Las Vegas Raiders in dramatic fashion that...

Los Angeles Rams rookie quarterback Ty Simpson will rarely see the field in 2026, but he should still get more playing time than we anticipate.

This is not to say that Simpson should be the primary starter if Matthew Stafford suffers a significant injury or is otherwise unavailable. TST’s JB Scott went more in-depth on why he shouldn’t play until he’s ready in an article from earlier this month. However, the Rams’ coaching staff will be eager to see what Simpson can do when it’s not preseason action.

There are only two options for when to play Simpson this season:...

I would normally sit here and tell you that a quarterback winning his first MVP and putting together his best individual season at age 37 is not a predictive indicator of what is to come. Smart bets would usually lean towards a return to normalcy and career baselines.

I’m known for finding the contrarian angle and embracing it in full. Today I’m embracing the consensus and building the case for why Matthew Stafford’s best season yet was real and potentially predictive for his performance in 2026.

Stafford was objectively great in 2025

One contrarian opinion is that Stafford won...

Sean McVay acknowledged that drafting Ty Simpson was not an easy decision, but that as head coach of the Los Angeles Rams it’s important to balance moves that will be better both for the short-term and the long-term. In an interview with the podcast Bussin’ with the Boys on Tuesday, McVay told hosts Will Compton and Taylor Lewan that he had a conversation with Matthew Stafford before drafting Simpson that “wasn’t exactly agreed upon” but that the reigning MVP understood where the franchise was coming from in terms of his timeline and needing a backup plan in case he retires...

So, the NFL won’t let me post the video, but I’ll share the link here! If you are at all interested in learning about Mike Martz (who changed the game) or you want to relive some good and not so good days from the St. Louis Rams, then watch the video. It’s great.

The Rams of old offered a lot of fun and success, but as quickly as Martz and the Greatest Show on Turf took the league by storm, it seemed in almost an instant it was gone. The rise and fall of Martz and those Rams teams was...

This year’s backfield split between Kyren Williams and Blake Corum could be the most shared workload we’ve seen over Sean McVay’s time with the Los Angeles Rams. It’s one of the most interesting dynamics across this refreshed roster.

In his early years, McVay seemed adamantly opposed to a shared backfield. Todd Gurley shouldered an outsized burden on his way to an Offensive Player of Award in 2017. The Rams ran Gurley’s wheels off, and 2019 concluded his career with the team. Even as Gurley’s effectiveness dipped in his last season in Los Angeles, the Rams were committed to giving him...

When the Los Angeles Rams begin OTAs next week on May 26, the player with the most to gain is also one of the biggest stars in the NFL. Puka Nacua can prove he’s back on the right track after checking in and out of rehab, setting himself up for a record-breaking payday extension before Week 1 if everything goes according to plan.

But Nacua isn’t the only Rams player who with something major at stake this offseason and most of them are much less proven as far less established. Who else has the most to gain?

WR Puka...