4 free agents Rams would ruin the offseason by signing in 2025

(3) - TE Gerald Everett

Distance makes the heart grow fonder. While that is not always the case, it certainly seems to be what is prompting some Rams fans to mention former Rams tight end Gerald Everett as an option for the team's tight end room in 2025. And in one word, let me respond to those speculations of returning him to this offense: No. Even if I ignore the way he made it a point to toss shade at the Rams after signing with the Seattle Seahawks, Everett simply had his best years in the Rams offense. He played relatively well with the Los Angeles Chargers. But he was horrible for the Chicago Bears.

I really don't have a problem with trying to get a veteran for cheap and watching the way the Rams football team restores the passion for playing the game to the core of their being. But there is a limit as to what type of player those efforts of reclamation work on.

Yes, Everett used to play for the Rams. But the Rams offense has undergone sweeping changes, with one of the most obvious and dramatic changes being the fact that Jared Goff is no longer the Rams quarterback. Yes, Gerald Everett last played for the Los Angeles Rams while Goff was still under center. And if that does not concern you, how about this?

The Rams have TEs Tyler Higbee, Davis Allen, and Colby Parkinson under contract for 2025 right now. I defy the argument that Gerald Everett and his 36 receiving yards in 2024 to be better than any of those players. And with the Rams almost certainly targeting a rookie tight end successor for Tyler Higbee, there is simply no role for a non-blocking tight end in the Rams offense.

If the Rams are willing to move on from veteran WR Cooper Kupp, they are not entertaining ideas of re-signing a guy who doesn't upgrade the roster. Neither should you.

More Rams offseason news:

(2) - WR Davante Adams

There is a lot of buzz around recently released wide receiver Davante Adams, who split his time between the Las Vegas Raiders and the New York Jets in 2024. Coming off a contract that averaged $28 million per year, Adams is arguably one of the biggest names to hit the 2025 NFL Free Agency market after his release from the New York Jets. So clearly, the Rams front office should make a hard push to sign him to a contract, no matter what the cost, right? Not so fast, my friend.

The New York Jets released him, but only after no team was willing to trade a bag of chips and a six pack of diet cola for him. So why didn't any NFL team jump on the chance to trade for Adams?

It all comes down to return on investment. I explored that angle when citing how the Rams extension of Tutu Atwell means three players won't be back in 2025.

Revising the same comparison to include Davante Adams cost from 2024, here's what I found:

• Cooper Kupp's catches in 2022-2024 earned him over $200k per catch
  Tutu Atwell's catches in 2022-2024 earned him under $36.9k per catch, but Davante Adams earned him more than a whopping $329k per catch
• Cooper Kupp earned $17.8k for each receiving yard from 2022-2024 while Tutu Atwell earned just $2.7k for each receiving yard over the same time frame. Meanwhile, Davante Adams earned himself more than the outlandish sum of $26K for each receiving yard.
• Cooper Kupp earned nearly $2.4 million for each touchdown scored from 2022-2024, while Tutu Atwell earned just $900k for each touchdown scored over the same timespan. Davante Adams, on the other hand, cost $4 million for each touchdown scored in 2024.

As fans, we have been skewed by our fervor for Fantasy Football, and the rules that allow us to compare players solely on statistics alone has created a blind spot in our objective assessment of NFL players. As we have shown above, Tutu Atwell's historic cost for his production is significantly lower than that of either Cooper Kupp or Davante Adams. As fans, we tend to gloss over the salary considerations of adding players to the roster.

Perhaps now is as good of a time as any to put them back on the radar screen.