Grading latest 8 Rams free agency moves including Ahkello Witherspoon signing

When the Los Angeles Rams ended their 2024 NFL season, there were many reasons to feel good about the past season, and to feel optimistic about the future. The team had just won the NFC West Division title, had advanced to the Divisional Round of the 2025 NFL Playoffs, and nearly defeated the eventual Super Bowl LIX winners, the Philadelphia Eagles. With a team that was at little risk of losing key starters to free agency, fans were on the right track to set expectations on bigger and better things for the team in 2025.

While there is plenty of work remaining to fill the Rams roster to the 90-player limit, the initial roster moves have been rather solid.

I won't pretend to know everything possible about how the Rams coaching staff plans to use the players who have been extended or new players who have been added to the Rams roster. But even early in the 2025 NFL Free Agency market, there is plenty of background information to determine how the team might plan to use new players. And fans and NFL analysts alike do not need to chart plays on a white board to interpret the Rams depth chart after signing new players.

Whether a casual NFL fan of the Rams, or a meticulous researcher who can create your own next generation statistics and data analytics, we all are subject to forces beyond our control. Will the player stay healthy? Will players enjoy the roles assigned to them by the Rams coaching staff? Will the player get an appropriate amount of work to optimize their production?

Is the player a depth addition to afford the team more flexibility in the upcoming 2025 NFL Draft, or does the addition signify production on offense or defense? And how much work will the team benefit from that particular player?

We graded early free agency signings as the 2025 NFL Free Agency market opened for business. This is the sequel to those early grades..

It's a cascade of unknown variables that we all must take our best guess at. Admittedly, we may all be wrong, or right, with our offseason speculation. Still, there are plenty of analysts that wade into the pool of unknowns fearlessly. For my part, I have tried to read and understand the perspectives of many NFL analysts. Here is my best compilation of what those analysts have to say about the Rams signings so far.

(1) - WR Davante Adams | 2-years, $44 million

The biggest headliner to sign with the Los Angeles Rams so far is former New York Jets veteran wide receiver Davante Adams. Adams signed a two-year contract with the Rams that equates to a two-year contract for up to $44 million. His 2025 salary cap hit is merely $12 million. But the Rams have tacked on a void year in 2027 to spread $4 million of the compensation into the next year.

I won't repeat myself. I dove into the Rams' signing of Adams when it was first reported, acknowledging the upside of his addition as well as the significant challenges of optimizing his performance in this offense. The biggest challenges to the perfect 'fit' of Adams in the Rams' offense are his questionable blocking ability, his bad-blood history with Rams backup quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, and his need for a significant number of targets to truly be effective.,

Adams best production occured when he was targeted 169, 180, 149, 169, and 175 times respectively. Since hiring Sean McVay as the Los Angeles Rams head coach, the most targets receivers have gotten are:

• 2021 - 191 targets to Cooper Kupp
• 2023 - 160 targets to Puka Nacua
• 2019 - 134 targets to Cooper Kupp
• 2018 & 2019 - 130 targets to Robert Woods

With the team intending to blend Davante Adams with Puka Nacua, you have to at least pose the question of who gets more targets. I suppose it will depend on who is the more effective receiver. Still it's the type of practical questions that are not typically asked when a player is added.

On the other hand, many experienced NFL analysts have pulled out all the stops in applauding the Rams addition of Davante Adams. As far as bringing a completely new skill set to the offense, they are on track. Adams has amazing abilities to create his own level of separation. Paired with HC Sean McVay's motions, formations, and route designs, he could be as significant to the Rams offense as the addition of veteran QB Matthew Stafford was in 2021:

If the Rams can figure out a way to keep feeding the football to both Davante Adams and Puka Nacua, while still throwing enough to other receivers to keep them involved, this could be an outstanding addition to the Rams roster. But the Rams have struggled to keep everyone busy at appropriate levels in the past. So I will remain a bit skeptical for now.

Grade for signing WR Davante Adams: B+

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