3 Rams dream free agent signings vital to contend for Super Bowl in 2025

The Los Angeles Rams may not have been very successful at shopping for veteran contributors in the 2024 NFL Free Agency market, but such is the way it all works in the NFL. What appears great on the whiteboard must pass the litmus test of the football field. Durability, coachability, and chemistry are difficult to predict. Unfortunately, the Rams struggled throughout 2024 with all three categories, to the point where two of the team's free agent signings have already packed their bags. So what can the Rams front office do better in 2025?

You go back, Jack, and do it again.

Roster building a championship team in the NFL is like safe cracking. You attempt a combination to see if it clicks, unlocks the safe, and opens the door to a Super Bowl victory. If not, you go back and try a new combination. So it goes for Rams GM Les Snead. Just because the team did not hit on every free agent signing, the team cannot curl up into a fetal position and not make any effort this season.

The team inched closer to competing in Super Bowl LIX. A bit more work this season could push them over the top. And so begins the quest to find the right players who can fill the right roles at the right price for the team. While there are many big name veteran free agents who will overrun the 2025 NFL Free Agency market, here are three veterans who may not get a lot of immediate attention from NFL analysts, but who check all of the boxes for me in terms of right players, right roles, and right price. So, who are they? Let's jump right in.

(3) - WR Darius Slayton (New York Giants)

My first free agent target is not originally my idea. Bleacher Nation's Patrick Flowers wrote an article citing the Top 5 Los Angeles Rams Free Agent targets. While I was not enamored with many of his recommendations, I did like the suggestion of targeting New York Giants free agent wide receiver Darius Slayton. Slayton is coming off his sixth NFL season, is not quite adept enough to lure teams into paying him top dollar, and has a sneaky good way of dependable production in one of the less robust offenses in the NFL.

He is just under-the-radar enough to warrant some solid vetting. But he stands 6-foot-1, weighs 198 pounds, and has been a Steady-Freddie of production when it comes to NFL receiving yards. What I love most is the fact that he is 28 years old, can do everything the Rams ask of a wide receiver, but still has enough upside to keep him affordable. He could be a great sidekick to WR Puka Nacua in the Rams offense in 2025. And it everything clicks, perhaps much more.

(2) - LB Nick Bolton (Kansas City Chiefs)

While many fans expect that the Rams run defense can be fixed with the right addition to the inside linebacker position, the team's efforts to stop Philadelphia Eagles RB Saquon Barkley will need quite a bit more to successfully defend. While his reputation may be embellished due to the fact that he has played for the Kansas City Chiefs for the past four seasons, inside linebacker Nick Bolton makes sense for the Rams in 2025. Here's why:

From the moment that the team traded away starting inside linebacker Ernest Jones, the front office had to know that it would have to circle back and find a more permanent solution for the role in the 2025 offseason. While the team got passionate efforts from Troy Reeder and Christian Rozeboom, and a surprising solid performance from undrafted rookie ILB Omar Speights, the defense showed vulnerability at the position in several crucial games. I still have nightmares over Rozeboom being pancaked by an Eagles blocker on a running play. And the ability of Barkley to explode over the length of the football field repeatedly seemed to be about the Rams inability to slow him down as his own speed and durability.

Bolton will not fix that. But he will help to slow things down. That is enough to ask of any inside linebacker.

(1) - CB Paulson Adebo (New Orleans Saints)

The LA Rams secondary has been a concern to me for several seasons. The team seemed to invest Day 3 picks into the group in the 2022 NFL Draft, and then pivot to invest heavily into safeties. And right now, even with the expiration of veteran safety John Johnson III, the team still has the following safeties on the roster:

1. Quentin Lake
2. Kamren Curl
3. Kamren Kinchens
4. Jaylen McCollough
5. Tanner Ingle

With the exception of Ingle, all four safeties are solid contributors, worthy of starting, and have bright futures ahead of them. But the team faces serious question marks at cornerback. The Rams are losing Ahkello Witherspoon to free agency (again), while the following players are returning:

1. Cobie Durant
2. Emmanuel Forbes
3. Derion Kendrick (off IR)
4. Josh Wallace
5. Darious Williams
6. Tre Tomlinson (off IR)
7. Shaun Jolly
8. Cam Lampkin
9. Charles Woods
10. A.J. Green

While there are many names on the list, there are few players that I entrust to a starting role in 2025. At this point, I'd guess that 5-foot-11 CB Cobie Durant and 5-foot-9 CB Darious Williams are the projected starters for 2025. But the secondary could get a B-12 shot instantly by signing former New Orleans Saints cornerback Paulson Adebo. Adebo's season ended in October 2024 due to a devastating broken Femur. But he continued to share his rehab progress, and seemed to be making huge strides in returning for the 2025 NFL season.

Unlike Tre'Davious White's successive lost seasons due to soft tissue injuries, Adebo's broken bone may seem more debilitating, but in terms of recovery and anticipated level of play post-injury, it's a far better injury to suffer. And Paulson Adebo is a very formidable cornerback in pass coverage when he i on the football field:

Standing 6-foot-1 and weighing 192 pounds, Adebo can immediately slide into the larger cornerback role that the Rams needed from Ahkello Witherspoon. Best of all, Adebo is coming off his rookie contract. Much like veteran DB Kamren Curl in 2024, that gives the Rams an opportunity to infuse a solid defensive back who flourishes in pass coverage from the get-go.

The Rams may view offense as the priority in the 2025 NFL Draft. But the team's defense will almost certainly do much of the heavy lifting during the 2025 NFL season. With these three free agents, you have to consider the Rams favorites to not only repeat as NFC West Division Champions, but early contenders for Super Bowl LX.

As always, thanks for reading.

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