The Los Angeles Rams head into training camp this year carrying real weight on their shoulders.
Coming off a 12 and 5 season, both rookies and veterans are set to report on July 25 to Loyola Marymount University, and what unfolds over these next several weeks will decide whether an aggressive, headline filled offseason actually turns into a championship run. Three storylines stand above everything else as camp opens, and a fourth question, one that hasn’t gotten nearly enough attention, might end up mattering just as much as any of them.
Rebuilding the defense around Myles Garrett
The first and most consequential storyline centers on how the Rams reshape their defensive identity around Myles Garrett. This is not the first time this front office has made a bold, headline grabbing move in pursuit of a title. The blueprint traces back to the trade for Von Miller and the addition of Odell Beckham Jr. ahead of the franchise’s Super Bowl LVI triumph, and this offseason’s acquisition of Garrett follows that same aggressive instinct. Garrett arrives in Los Angeles as one of the greatest pass rushers of his generation, fresh off a season in which he set a new single season sack record, and his arrival alone raises the ceiling of an already loaded roster. Still, no team gets to celebrate a championship before playing a single down, and how quickly Garrett meshes with defensive coordinator Chris Shula’s system will be one of the more closely watched developments of camp. Shula has already made clear he intends to let Garrett operate the way he always has, rather than force him into an unfamiliar role, even as the rest of the scheme keeps its own core principles intact. That balancing act matters, because the production Garrett is replacing didn’t come from one player alone. Byron Young led the team with twelve sacks a season ago, Kobie Turner added seven, and Braden Fiske chipped in three, and together that trio combined for twenty two sacks last year, a number Garrett’s own record breaking twenty three effectively replaces on paper as he steps into the role vacated by Jared Verse, who was sent to Cleveland as part of the deal. None of this is as simple as plugging one dominant player into another man’s old spot. Under former Cleveland defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz, Garrett operated largely as a one man wrecking crew, racking up fifty one sacks over the past three seasons and establishing himself as arguably the most feared quarterback hunter in the sport today. Just how much of that singular dominance carries over into a new scheme, a new city, and a new group of teammates should start to come into focus over these next several weeks.
Keeping the noise from becoming a distraction. The second storyline has far less to do with talent and everything to do with discipline, because for as gifted as this roster is, the gap between a genuine contender and a cautionary tale often comes down to how well a team manages its own success. If there were awards for the most productive offseason in football, Los Angeles would be a strong candidate to win one, but a great offseason and a great season are two very different accomplishments. Puka Nacua enters camp with a significant contract extension looming, one that could place him near the top of the market at his position, and he also still needs to continue the personal work he began during a stint in rehab. The Rams already generated plenty of conversation by shocking much of the league with the selection of quarterback Ty Simpson at thirteenth overall. Simpson, who remains unsigned as camp begins, now finds himself competing with Stetson Bennett for the job of backing up reigning MVP Matthew Stafford, who returns for his age thirty eight season. On the other side of the ball, the Rams brought in cornerbacks Trent McDuffie and Jaylen Watson from Kansas City, a reminder that success in one system doesn’t always guarantee the same results elsewhere. History offers a cautionary parallel worth remembering here too. Kansas City’s own head coach, Andy Reid, once led an Eagles team famously nicknamed the “Dream Team” after a offseason full of splashy additions, and that roster went on to miss the playoffs entirely. Nothing about a great offseason guarantees anything once the games start to count, and this version of the Rams has one purpose driving every decision: winning a championship, with little room left for subplots along the way. With a roster this talented, Sean McVay’s central job through camp will be keeping his players locked in on that single goal rather than the noise surrounding it.
Offensive questions despite the reigning MVP
The third storyline is perhaps the most surprising, because even with a reigning Most Valuable Player under center, the Rams still have real questions to answer on offense. Regardless of how much mileage Stafford has on him, he remains one of the most gifted throwers in the league, capable of making difficult passes look almost routine. His league leading 4,707 passing yards and 46 touchdown passes a season ago came despite working with a receiver room that was talented at the very top but thin everywhere else. Nacua led all of football with 129 receptions, and Adams added 60 catches of his own, including a league high 14 touchdown grabs, yet no other Rams receiver finished the season with more than 18 receptions. That imbalance is part of why the decision to draft Simpson, at a moment when receivers like Makai Lemon, KC Concepcion, and Omar Cooper Jr. were still on the board, raised eyebrows across the league. Depth at the position now likely falls to Konata Mumpfield, Jordan Whittington, and sixth round rookie CJ Daniels, none of whom have proven themselves as featured contributors at this level. Where the Rams do have real depth is at tight end, a position this coaching staff has leaned on heavily for years, and this year’s group might be the deepest yet, headlined by Colby Parkinson, Tyler Higbee, Terrance Ferguson, and rookie Max Klare. Ferguson caught only 11 passes as a rookie, but along with Parkinson, he represents perhaps the greatest untapped upside in the passing game this season. Coming off a campaign in which this offense ranked first in the entire NFL, the expectation is continuity rather than reinvention, though some fine tuning around the receiver room may still be necessary before the games begin to count.
A closer look at the WR3 concern
On that last point, it’s worth going a step further than the general consensus. Calling anything a major issue on this roster feels like a stretch, given how complete Los Angeles looks from top to bottom heading into camp. But after watching the Rams pass on a chance to draft Makai Lemon, and pass on wide receivers entirely until the sixth round, the WR3 spot stands out as the one area worth flagging as a genuine concern rather than a footnote. Davante Adams is now 33 years old and missed three games last season. Puka Nacua seems to pick up some kind of nagging injury every year without fail. And in the Rams’ NFC Championship Game loss to Seattle, no receiver outside of that top duo caught a single pass, which is about as clear a warning sign as a depth chart can send. Given all of that, a run at Deebo Samuel would make a great deal of sense. The versatile playmaker remains unsigned as camp approaches, still managed 72 catches for 727 yards in Washington last season despite plenty of quarterback instability around him, and would give this offense exactly the kind of dependable, multi purpose third option it was missing when the lights were brightest last January.
The free agent market: where a WR3 fix could still come from
That question becomes even more relevant given how much talent is still sitting unsigned this deep into the summer. Heading into training camp, the best remaining names on the open market are led by veteran offensive lineman Taylor Decker, elite edge rusher Joey Bosa, and versatile playmakers like Deebo Samuel, and the overall depth of this year’s leftover free agent class is unusually strong for this point on the calendar. Decker left Detroit after declining to take a pay cut and stands as the top offensive lineman still available. Bosa, a five time Pro Bowler, posted five sacks and five forced fumbles for Buffalo last season and remains a legitimate pass rushing option for a team willing to bring him in. Linebacker Bobby Wagner is coming off a 162 tackle season in Washington and still offers elite run stopping value at this stage of his career. Tackle Cam Robinson posted a career best 92.1 percent pass block win rate with Cleveland last year, while edge rusher Jadeveon Clowney led Dallas with 8.5 sacks and remains an excellent edge setting option for any front seven. Cornerback Rasul Douglas quietly put together a career best coverage season in Miami, holding opposing quarterbacks to a 72.6 passer rating when targeting him.
The wide receiver pool in particular is deep enough to reshape a contender’s outlook in a single signing. Beyond Samuel, Stefon Diggs crossed the 1,000 yard mark on 85 receptions with New England last season, Keenan Allen led the Chargers’ receiver room with 81 catches and 777 yards working out of the slot, DeAndre Hopkins remains a dangerous perimeter threat who is already being heavily linked to receiver needy teams like Atlanta, and Hunter Renfrow remains available as a reliable slot option following his stint in Carolina. For a team searching for exactly one more trustworthy target behind its top two, this list reads almost like a menu.
The trade market is heating up right alongside free agency. Brandon Aiyuk and Maxx Crosby have both become fixtures of offseason trade speculation as their respective teams sort through roster and contract decisions, making both players names worth tracking as camps get underway. Analysts have also floated the idea that pending contract situations could shake loose even more talent before the deadline, with names like Bears receiver DJ Moore, linked in some reports to Buffalo, and Lions running back David Montgomery, connected to Houston, among the players who could realistically be on the move if their current situations don’t resolve.
Taken together, these threads, the defensive transformation being built around Garrett, the discipline required to manage a roster this decorated, the quiet questions still surrounding the receiver room, and a free agent and trade market still loaded with players who could address that exact need, will define what kind of team the Rams become over these next few weeks at Loyola Marymount. Every practice between now and the regular season will offer another data point on whether this roster, assembled with championship intent at every turn, is truly built to finish the job it set out to do this offseason.
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