Grading latest 8 Rams free agency moves including Ahkello Witherspoon signing

(4) - ILB Nathan Landman | Terms of the deal undisclosed

The Los Angeles Rams roster expected to lose veteran ILBs Christian Rozeboom, Jake Hummel, and Troy Reeder. The team has already lost Rozeboom to the Carolina Panthers and Hummel to the Baltimore Ravens. With the team unlikely to re-sign ILB Troy Reeder, the Rams roster needed to add more linebackers to fill the depth chart at the position.

With that in mind, the Rams front office has signed Nate Landman, the former ILB off the Atlanta Falcons. Landman was a starter in the Falcons defense in both 2023 and 2024. He missed Weeks 2 through 5 due to quad and calf muscle injuries. Still, he was the Falcons' primary starter for two seasons, and he is not named Troy Reeder. So two positives right?

But wait, there's more. There is plenty to like about Landman if you compare him to Reeder. The Los Angeles Rams are pretty quick to point out some of his positive attributes:

But I would not take ILB off the team's shopping list just yet. He's missed 20 tackles while making 192 tackles in the past two years. He's allowed 50 of 67 passes thrown to his receiver to be completed, four for touchdowns.

Perhaps the most telling aspect of Landman came from Sports Illustrated's Daniel Flick, who mentions Lanman's struggles at pass coverage:

"Landman proved volatile in coverage, and his lack of high-end speed was costly to Atlanta at times throughout the campaign."

Sports Illustrated Daniel Flick

While many are touting Landman as a superb addition to the Rams roster at ILB, I'm just not seeing it. At best, his PFF grade shows a linebacker who is similar to Omar Speights. So he may simply be competing with Speights for the run-stuffing ILB role. At worst, he is similar to Troy Reeder, but without the ability to cover passes. If he is intended to replace Christian Rozeboom, he simply is not effective enough at pass coverage to pull that off. At worst, he is too inconsistent in pass coverage or tackling (he missed 20 of 192 tackles) to be relied upon for more than defensive depth.

Hopefully the Rams are not finished at addressing the ILB position. But with his signing, I suspect the Rams will peer at rookie ILB prospects no sooner than Round 6. That simply is not good enough.

Grade for signing ILB Nate Landman: C+

(5) - Rams extend QB Jimmy Garoppolo | 1-year worth $4.5 million

At one point this offseason, the only confirmed quarterback to be returning for the Los Angeles Rams in 2025 was young quarterback Stetson Bennett. Of course, the situation has changed considerably since the early days of the offseason. The team has reconciled with starting QB Matthew Stafford. Better still, the team has reached an agreement to re-sign veteran QB Jimmy Garoppolo for another season.

The contract is heavily incentivized. Right now, the initial cap hit is $3.126 million (per OTC.com). But the contract could explode up to $10.5 million if incentive clauses are activated. While those incentive clauses remain undisclosed, you have to expect some are tied to Garoppolo stepping up if Stafford is injured, and other performance related clauses based on on-field production.

Garoppolo is the right choice to back up Stafford in 2025. He served in that role in 2024. He is perfectly comfortable with the team, the coaches, and the players. And his Week 18 performance was very promising despite falling as one data point with backups.

I suspect that the team could draft a quarterback in the middle rounds of the 2025 NFL Draft (Rounds 3, 4, or 5) to address the need for a Matthew Stafford successor. But in 2025, Jimmy Garoppolo will remain the primary backup quarterback. And I'm good with that.

Grade for re-signing QB Jimmy Garoppolo: A-