The Los Angeles Rams were one of the most dominant teams in the National Football League last season.
They went 12-5 to sit second in the NFC West standings. They made their way to the NFC Championship, where they lost to the Seattle Seahawks, the eventual Super Bowl Champions. Their quarterback, Matthew Stafford, won the league’s Most Valuable Player award.
And despite all of their success in 2025, the Rams have only gotten better throughout the offseason.
On Monday, the Rams made a blockbuster trade with the Cleveland Browns. Los Angeles traded away outside linebacker Jared Verse, a 2027 first-round pick, 2028 second-round pick and a 2029 third-round pick in exchange for All-Pro edge Myles Garrett. While the Rams gave a lot of future draft stock for Garrett, the trade was worth it.
Garrett is sure to help fortify the Rams’ defensive unit. In 2025, he won the NFL’s Defensive Player of the Year award after a historic season with the Browns by reaching 23 total sacks throughout the year, which set the league’s single-season sack record.
The 2025 Defensive Player of the Year honor was the second of Garrett’s nine-year career in the NFL; the first came in 2023. Each of those nine seasons was in Cleveland after Garrett was drafted by the Browns in 2017.
Despite being one of the most dominant defensive players of his generation, Garrett was only able to help the Brown to two playoff appearances and two winning seasons in his nine years.
Along with the addition of Garrett on the defensive side of the ball, the Rams made other impactful additions to their defensive unit throughout the offseason. Los Angeles acquired a cornerback duo from the Kansas City Chiefs by trading for Trent McDuffie and signing Jaylen Watson in free agency.
The two will help bolster the Rams’ secondary, which was one of their main areas of concern entering the offseason.
Offensively, the Rams re-signed veteran tight end Tyler Higbee to a two-year contract extension. Higbee is the Rams all-time leader in touchdowns, receptions and receiving yards for a tight end in his 10 seasons in Los Angeles. He recorded 25 receptions for 281 yards and three touchdowns in 10 games played last season.
Like Higbee, but maybe more importantly, the Rams locked down their head coach. Los Angeles and head coach Sean McVay agreed to a multi-year contract extension in February. McVay became the franchise’s all-time winningest head coach last season and holds a 92-57 regular-season record with the Rams after being hired in 2017.
McVay won the 2017 NFL Coach of the Year award after leading the Rams to the playoffs in his first season as head coach. He then led Los Angeles to the Super Bowl in the 2018 season and won the Super Bowl in the 2021 season.
One of the areas where the Rams didn’t excel this offseason was the NFL Draft. With the No. 13 overall pick, Los Angeles selected former University of Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson, rather than drafting a position of more need. While the selection was certainly a pick for the future, it was a shocking pick with Stafford still on the roster as the reigning MVP at the time.
The Garrett trade made the pick clearer; the Rams drafted Simpson because they knew their draft stock would be depleted in future years, but more immediate success could have been had with a different pick.
Los Angeles’ second and third round draft picks were both good options for the Rams. In the second round, they selected former Ohio State University tight end Max Klare, which, like the Simpson pick, wasn’t their biggest position of need after re-signing Higbee during the offseason. Their third-round pick was former University of Missouri offensive tackle Keagen Trust, who will most likely serve in a backup role this season.
All the offseason moves have made the Rams the team to beat in the NFC in 2026. It’s Super Bowl or bust. The reigning Super Bowl Champion Seahawks look much different than they did in February, which opened the door for Los Angeles to be atop the NFC, and potentially the entire league.
