It's becoming clear at camp that Rams must answer these 5 burning questions

Ah, yes, the Los Angeles Rams are racing through another summertime lull before the real work begins. The 2025 Rams Training Camp is not just an annual event for players and coaches to regroup for a new NFL season. It's more than a time to sweat off the off-season muffin rolls. It's even more than restoring football pads to football players to remind everyone vying for a roster spot that football is a highly competitive and violent sport that features grown men clashing on the field with every snap of the football.

This is a team that fell short of its goal a mere matter of months ago. And that means that the Los Angeles Rams are a football team with a singular focus. This team must be prepared to defeat all other NFL teams as it jockeys for a favorable berth in the NFL Playoffs. It must also ensure that players are durable and rested throughout the year to be even more effective when the postseason arrives.

For veterans, it's a time to truly pay all of their knowledge, experience, and wisdom gleaned from past elite players forward to motivate, educate, and reassure young players who are facing their first NFL training camp.

For rookies and other younger players, this is a time to watch, but also to be seen. It's a time to listen intently, but also to be heard. It's a time in an NFL player's career to get comfortable in his skin, and be as confident sitting and paying attention in a team meeting as he is leading a team meeting. It's a time to trust teammates and coaches, but also to prove to everyone that he can be trusted

It is that time when all individuals become a team, when everyone grows so confident in their own abilities that they willingly and freely compliment the actions of others.

At the same time, the coaching staff must roll up their sleeves and get to work. The Rams failed to achieve their goals in 2024, which means that coaches must now figure out what went wrong (not who to blame), and install corrections in place to avoid similar shortcomings in 2025.

We are going to try something new. We'll cover five main questions that must be answered during training camp, the issue that was not accomplished in 2024, and how the team hopes to correct that in 2025. Let's dive right in:

(5) - Can this team really commit to Tutu Atwell's larger role in 2025?

In four seasons competing for offensive snaps and targets in the Rams offense, wide receiver Tutu Atwell amassed 99 catches from 164 targets for 1,343 yards and four touchdowns. He also rushed 16 times for 72 yards and one touchdown. Somehow, the Rams felt that modest production warranted a one-year deal worth $10 million. And as funny as it may seem, they may be correct.

In four NFL seasons and 54 NFL games, Atwell has just 1,430 offensive snaps and just 164 targets. Many starters in this offense get that much work in one season. So it had to be a matter of Atwell not making the most of his opportunities.

Nope, that's not it either. Atwell has made the most of his light workload. In 2024, he caught 67.7 percent of his passes for 562 yards. 42 receptions generated 29 first downs. 126 yards, or 22.4 percent of his receiving yards, were yards after the catch. While he may not be as physical or as difficult to tackle as either WR Puka Nacua or Jordan Whittington, he possesses unmatched speed.

Atwell has improved his production, both as a receiver and as a blocker, every season. Had he been thrown to 110 times last season with all other factors being the same, he would have broken the 1000 receiving yards landmark. The Rams have thrown that often to WRs Cooper Kupp and Puka Nacua in the past. So the question is, can this offense carve out a significant role for Atwell in 2025?

It may not find it necessary.

The truth is that Atwell has gotten better every season. Last season, he improved his catching from 58.2 to 67.7 percent. He also upgraded his yards per reception from 12.4 to 13.4 yards per catch. If he can continue the trend to catch 70.0 percent of the passes thrown his way and put up over 14.0 yards per catch, he will only need to be targeted 102 times. If he can improve to a 75 percent catch rate and 15 yards per catch, he would only need to be targeted 89 times.

Of course, we can work the numbers to tell us anything we want, so that is not what we should focus on. Let's see how other wide receivers who earn in the $10 million range fare in the NFL recently. We can get salary cap data from Spotrac.com for this quick review:

• Jets WR Allan Lazard - $11 million | 530 receiving yards | 61.7 % catch | 6 TDs
• Raiders WR Jakobi Meyers - $11 million | 1027 receiving yards | 67.4 % catch | 4 TDs
• Giants WR Darius Slayton - $12 million | 573 receiving yards | 54.9 % catch | 2 TDs
• Rams WR Tutu Atwell - $10 million | 562 receiving yards | 67.7 % catch | 0 TDs
• Jaguars WR Dyami Brown - $10 million | 308 receiving yards | 75.0 % catch | 1 TD
• Bills WR Josh Palmer - $9.7 million | 584 receiving yards | 60.0 % catch | 1 TD

Well, would you look at that? Almost every Rams fan expects the $10 million payday to veteran wide receiver Tutu Atwell to indicate some renewed commitment. But at that price, the team appears to simply be compensating him for the level of his production in 2024.

We'll talk about his at length soon. Right now, let's tackle the Rams inside linebacker position: