Why a Rams team that’s normally all-in didn’t make another move at the trade deadline – The Athletic
WOODLAND HILLS, Calif. — The Los Angeles Rams have a reputation for being an all-in franchise when it comes to maximizing contention windows. But that’s not who they were at this year’s trade deadline.
Los Angeles made one move, coming last week for cornerback Roger McCreary from the Tennessee Titans. By trading a conditional fifth-round pick for a conditional sixth-rounder, the Rams sent just a sliver of their 2026 draft capital to add what they’ve described as a depth piece.
Granted, McCreary just arrived and is learning the system, but all 11 of his snaps in Sunday’s 34-10 win over the New Orleans Saints came on special teams, as Cobie Durant and Emmanuel Forbes Jr. played every single defensive snap at the outside cornerback positions with Darious Williams out.
That’s because the Rams see McCreary as more of an inside-outside depth piece on defense. And it’s because the one area they really see as a need for improvement isn’t easily fixed on the trade market, and that’s the kicking game.
“There are a lot of things that we’re going to look into,” coach Sean McVay said when asked about trying out kickers to compete with Joshua Karty. “That’s what’s occupied the majority of the morning is figuring out, ‘OK, hey, what are the best courses of action for us to be able to have some more tangible examples of getting this operation in the direction that we want?’ I hold true to the belief and the confidence I have in Josh, but we’re evaluating all parts of where we go with this operation.”
Kicker Joshua Karty has struggled at times for the Rams this season. (Greg Fiume / Getty Images)
The Rams are 6-2 and on a three-game winning streak in which they’ve outscored the Baltimore Ravens, Jacksonville Jaguars and Saints by a combined 86-20. They have a quarterback in Matthew Stafford who leads the NFL with 21 touchdown passes to just two interceptions, as well as a defense that ranks second in the league in scoring, allowing just 15.9 points per game.
In the process, some of the needs that seemed to exist on the roster earlier in the season have settled down. Forbes and Durant are young cornerbacks who continue to make strides, with Forbes recording his first interception with the Rams on Sunday. Williams was benched to start the year, but he has filled in admirably for Ahkello Witherspoon, who is expected back in around five weeks from a broken clavicle.
The offensive line had issues in short yardage and pass protection early on, but it’s easy in hindsight to tie those to the absences of left guard Steve Avila and right tackle Rob Havenstein. Both have healed, and Stafford is now being sacked at the lowest rate of his Rams tenure at 4.5 percent.
It’s not to say the Rams couldn’t have made a move. They could have tried what the Indianapolis Colts did and found a game-changer at outside cornerback. The market appeared to have just one available, and the New York Jets sent two-time first-team All-Pro Sauce Gardner to Indianapolis for two first-round picks and wide receiver Adonai Mitchell.
But Los Angeles never appeared to be in striking distance of a significant move. McVay said on Monday that he saw another trade as unlikely and kept emphasizing the field goal unit as the sole focus for improvement.
Unlike in 2021, when the Rams sent second- and third-round picks at the deadline for star edge rusher Von Miller months after trading for Stafford, the priorities have shifted from just maximizing this season. In fact, a franchise known for discarding draft picks to the degree where it’s made just one first-round selection since 2016 traded down in last year’s first round with the Atlanta Falcons to pick up a 2026 first-rounder.
That’s because Stafford is 37 now. Though that could lead the Rams to see an all-in opportunity with him playing at an MVP level, it also creates a need to plan for the future at the quarterback position in a way they didn’t when he was 33 in 2021. That was also at a time when the Rams felt the need to maximize a 30-year-old future Hall of Famer in Aaron Donald and a 40-year-old All-Pro left tackle in Andrew Whitworth.
The current Rams roster is set up to be flexible and competitive for years to come, so long as it adequately plans for a transition from Stafford. They have several players coming up for potential extensions. Safeties Quentin Lake and Kam Curl are in contract years, and wide receiver Puka Nacua and defensive end Byron Young both have one year remaining on their rookie deals. The Rams are currently projected to be in the top five in spending capabilities for 2026, 2027 and 2028, according to Over The Cap, with Stafford’s deal set to have one more season beyond this one.
The challenge in making win-now moves is that the Rams don’t know how much time Stafford has left. He’s the fourth quarterback in NFL history to begin a season with a touchdown-to-interception ratio of 21:2 or better through eight games, inspiring hope that he’s physically OK despite missing most of training camp to manage a degenerative back issue. But any hit can change the calculus for a quarterback at that age, not only in his physical abilities but also in how much longer he wishes to play.
They have to avoid getting into the spot the Colts did, where Andrew Luck and Philip Rivers retired within three years, leading to a quarterback carousel that lasted four straight seasons without a playoff appearance.
Those two 2026 first-round picks are worth keeping until the spring brings more clarity. It’s entirely possible, if not likely at this point, that Stafford is back and they aren’t in the quarterback market just yet. But on a roster with few needs, that could also present the perfect time to draft and stash a quarterback to learn from Stafford, the way the Kansas City Chiefs pulled it off with Patrick Mahomes learning from Alex Smith, and the Green Bay Packers did with Jordan Love learning from Aaron Rodgers.
The derby for quarterback selections will be difficult next spring with the Jets and Cleveland Browns both holding two first-rounders, and their top pick set to be much higher than the Rams’. That could lead to holding off on a selection, or it could push them more toward a developmental type who needs to sit and learn, whereas the Browns and Jets could need their pick to start right away.
The Rams could have made other moves on the margins, like with McCreary, that wouldn’t have impacted their plans at quarterback or for future extension conversations. They could have chased a No. 2 running back with more pass-game readiness than Blake Corum has shown, such as Jerome Ford of the Browns or Breece Hall of the Jets. But Corum is averaging 4.6 yards per carry this season, so an upgrade wasn’t necessary, either.
The same can be said at wide receiver, where Tutu Atwell is on injured reserve with a hamstring injury but is expected back in three weeks. The Rams have leaned into playing more two- and three-tight end sets without him and are reaping the rewards in the red zone.
The one major upgrade that felt potentially out there was at tight end. But with the Minnesota Vikings improving to 4-4, T.J. Hockenson became less available. The Browns have Pro Bowler David Njoku in a contract year, but they didn’t deal him at the deadline, either.
Los Angeles could have traded for more special teams help, where its units have struggled everywhere except with punter Ethan Evans. But finding a kicker in a trade can be easier said than done, and the Rams seem to have too many structural issues to see one spot as a fix. As such, they signed former two-time Pro Bowl long snapper Jake McQuaide to the practice squad on Tuesday.
Karty has missed five of his past 13 field goal attempts and has also missed three extra points this season. The issues have been widespread, from blocked kicks to poor snaps and holds to missed kicks.
The kicking game has arguably kept the Rams from being 8-0, as they had back-to-back field goals blocked to end a 33-26 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles and also missed an extra point that could have won the game in regulation in a 26-23 overtime loss to the San Francisco 49ers.
“It’s gone on for too long,” McVay said, “and we’ve got to be able to fix it.”
With the margins soon to be so much tighter in divisional games — and playoff games, if they arrive — the solutions have to come quickly to not waste what the Rams have on offense and defense this season. But those solutions are going to come from within or from the waiver wire rather than the trade market.
This was an “eff them picks” franchise, but now it’s trying to contend this year and into the future with a team that doesn’t see much keeping it from doing so.
