The rumor mill surrounding the Los Angeles Rams and Matthew Stafford haven’t quieted down. Just today, the Rams announced they were allowing Stafford to talk to other teams to gauge his market value in an effort to establish a deal either trading him to another team or re-signing with the Rams.
Whether Stafford returns or not this season still leaves the Rams with long-term questions for their future under center. They have frequently had quarterbacks mocked to them in recent NFL drafts as people attempt to find a future for the Rams at the game’s most important position.
The Rams have yet to listen to those as Stafford continues his high level of play. However, this recent news cycle has brought more scrutiny than ever to the franchise and its plans for the future.
Despite this scrutiny and pressure to find their heir apparent to Stafford, I don’t believe this is the offseason that the Rams should cave and find their quarterback of the future.
The Los Angeles Rams shouldn’t draft a quarterback in the 2025 NFL Draft
The roster isn’t quite ready for a rookie
While I do believe that the Rams’ collective ecosystem is well-equipped to handle a rookie quarterback, I don’t believe that the Rams’ roster is currently well-built to support one. Let’s look across the roster here.
At running back, Kyren Williams is steady, if unspectacular. The Rams don’t generate any explosive runs on the ground with him, but he’s good for four yards a carry. He’s struggled with injuries though, and it’s tough to feel comfortable relying on him to shoulder the offense with that concern and his lack of explosiveness.
Of course, Los Angeles drafted Blake Corum in the third round last year to help split the load…before he too got hurt. Corum was also praised for being identical to Kyren, something that doesn’t solve the Rams’ lack of playmaking from this room. If they want to support a rookie with a strong ground game, then they need to get more dynamic in this room. Yet, they can’t, given the workload and production Kyren Williams has built and the draft capital invested in Corum. Tough decisions to be had there.
At wide receiver, the Rams really need a full reset. LA currently has two receivers set to be under contract for next year after they move on from Cooper Kupp in Puka Nacua and Jordan Whittington. That’s far from settling. Nacua is more a highly-effective schemed-up WR2 than elite WR1 and Whittington is a designed-touch role player.
The team could certainly add players in the draft and free agency, but the free agent crop isn’t exactly inspiring (Amari Cooper? Keenan Allen? In 2025?), and the 2025 NFL Draft doesn’t boast a deep crop of the kind of playmakers the team really needs to evolve the offense.
The offensive line also has some pressing needs to address. Both starting tackles could be gone next season, and the Rams had a rookie manning the center position last year.
Even if both Alaric Jackson and Rob Havenstein returned, Stafford’s experience helped mitigate some of their woes in pass protection and took a lot of the burden off of rookie center Beaux Limmer in identifying and calling protections. A rookie likely won’t have the same traits….especially not in this draft class.
Of course, you can’t wait for a roster to be perfect before you swing for a rookie quarterback. It is still important to have built a team that can support a rookie, however, and I’m not sure the Rams have that at this point. It would set the team back even further if the rookie got hurt or lost his confidence due to his surroundings.
The 2025 NFL Draft Class is…rough
It’s well-known how little enthusiasm there is in the 2025 NFL Draft regarding the crop of quarterbacks among scouts. The top of the draft is a close battle between Shedeur Sanders and Cam Ward, who will both likely go in the top five picks, and then it falls off a cliff into a wide-open mess of quarterbacks that can best be described as a shoulder shrug.
Truthfully? I don’t think this group yields much in potential across the board. Trying to gamble on any of these guys to become successful honestly feels like a waste if you can’t land any of the top two. Look at the candidates left at quarterback beyond them:
- Jalen Milroe: Talented, but frustratingly inconsistent and inaccurate. Not a scheme fit for what McVay wants to run offensively either, given his issues as a processor and poor accuracy.
- Jaxson Dart: Lacks serious tools and plays in a gimme offense that removes the work from him. He is also a frustratingly slow processor that McVay would rip his hair out trying to fix (see: Goff, Jared).
- Tyler Shough: Big arm, but a 26-year-old rookie with multiple injuries and doesn’t run quick game and middle-of-the-field concepts well, which disqualifies him from McVay’s offense
- Quinn Ewers: Shot arm, poor feel for pressure, and waffling accuracy. Can at least run McVay’s offense, but so can Jimmy Garoppolo if this is what you want
- Dillon Gabriel: Do I have to?
- Max Brosmer, Will Howard, Riley Leonard, Kyle McCord, Kurtis Rourke: See: Gabriel, Dillon
Of course, we can always find faults in every quarterback, but this year’s crop is genuinely poor in a way that is pretty similar to the 2022 NFL Draft. Just because a quarterback is available doesn’t mean that the Rams should draft him.
My personal philosophy is that I wouldn’t draft players I don’t think can be starting-caliber at some point down the line, especially when it comes to quarterbacks. If you don’t have starting-caliber traits and tools (i.e. upside), I don’t think you warrant a selection. With this group, I can talk myself into Sanders, Ward, and Milroe. After that, I’m passing and letting it be someone else’s issue.
The Rams won’t find anyone perfect, but they can easily find better than this current crop of quarterback that the 2025 NFL Draft boasts. In an ideal world, they bring Stafford back and play for the 2026 NFL Draft which looks to hold a much more exciting and talented group of quarterbacks.
