The move Rams fans are begging for before mini-camp begins is just sitting there

The Los Angeles Rams meticulously invested in the roster with nearly surgical precision throughout the 2025 offseason. In 2023, the team seemed to be willing to accept that the team's roster had too many needs, so the Rams hooked up the hose to the 2023 NFL Draft and showered the team with 14 drafted rookies. In 2024, the team still had many needs, so it tried to bolster the roster with 10 drafted rookies and six veteran free agent signings.

In 2025, the Rams reversed course. This year, the team signed four new veteran free agents, while drafting just six rookies. How could the team hope to contend with so few reinforcements to the roster?

For starters, the Rams may have sputtered on offense and defense to open the 2024 NFL season, but by the time the Rams entered post-season competition, this team was purring like a high-performance engine. The Rams did lose in the Divisional Round of the 2025 NFL Playoffs, but fell to the Philadelphia Eagles, the eventual Super Bowl LIX winner.

And anyone who followed the NFL Playoffs understands that the Rams put up the best fight when facing the Eagles on the road in a snowstorm. Yes, it's a new season. Yes, this is a brand-new team. But you and everyone associated with the Los Angeles Rams football organization can take heart in the knowledge that this team was within a stone's throw of competing in another Super Bowl.

Wholesale changes are not required. Fine tuning and a handful of roster tweaks are needed this time.

Rams uncanny way of winning in 2024 has to be considered

While the team's run defense is the natural focus of many fans this offseason, the team was not exactly perfect in many areas. What this team did excel at was an instinctive bit of teamwork and esprit de corps that allowed one aspect of the team to compensate for another aspect of the team that struggled.

For example, rookie kicker Joshua Karty made 29 of 34 field goal attempts in 2024. But of those five missed field goals, the team either won the game, or the margin of loss was so great that he was not on the hook for missing a potential game winner.

In a similar fashion, when the team faced the offensive juggernaut known as the Buffalo Bills, the Rams' offense sprang to life as the team scored 44 points. The Rams would win that game by a score of 44-42. The same Rams offense would only put up 44 points throughout the next three games. Ironically, it was the defense's turn to roar to life, holding opponents to six, nine, and nine points, respectively

There were no heroics for this team in 2024. Or rather, everyone took a turn at playing the hero. That opens the door for elite players to step in and provide a new level of heroics. Or does it? A big challenge with former Rams rosters is that so many players in supporting roles seemed to ease up, waiting for one of the All-Pro players to have an All-Pro moment. But with no All-Pros on the roster in 2024, everyone seemed to step up.

Can the front office and coaching staff preserve that mindset among all players if the team tries to upgrade the secondary before mini-camp?

Can the Rams secondary be upgraded?

The greatest question that should be asked (but isn't) is whether the Rams' secondary can be upgraded now. Far too many analysts examine 2024 season statistics without any consideration of the fact that the stats themselves represent a homogenous display of the Rams' very erratic season. And no, I'm not referring to the organic oscillation of the ups and downs that occur from game to game.

In the case of the Rams, there are bundles of games that act like chapters of a season-long story. What do I mean?

When the season opened, the Rams were without CBs Derion Kendrick and Darious Williams. The team attempted to pair Cobie Durant with recovering veteran Tre'Davious White. At the safety position, the team suited up veteran safety John Johnson with Kam Curl, slid DB Quentin Lake in as the slot corner, and tried to stop the Detroit Lions. By Week 2, Johnson had also fallen to injury, and the secondary was in chaos.

After four weeks of witnessing Tre White struggle, the Rams decided to sign former starting cornerback Ahkello Witherspoon to the practice squad and elevated him to a starting role for Weeks 5 and 6. At the same time, the Rams began to get some playing time out of the now healthy Darious Williams. Even rookies Kamren Kinchens and Jaylen McCollough began to get some playing time. It was not an ideal situation, but it was improving.

The team transitioned once more from Weeks 10-14. The secondary continued to experiment with the best combination of players in various scenarios, and the results were mixed. The Rams were 2-2 over this period, but the team continued to struggle on both sides of the football. It was not until starting cornerback Cobie Durant fell to injury that the defense roared to another level. Over three games, the defense did not allow a single touchdown and held all three opponents to just 24 points for those games.

In the playoffs, the Rams' net pass defense allowed just 228 yards while sacking opposing quarterbacks 16 times.

While that only covers two games, the Minnesota Vikings and Philadelphia Eagles boasted outstanding offenses last season. If the Rams' defense has a carryover effect into 2025, is there room to improve?

But wait, there's more

The answer is yes. And it makes sense. Improving a roster in the NFL can happen in one of three ways. The first avenue to improvement is the most obvious - better performance. That holds whether that means that the secondary allows fewer completions, fewer passing yards, fewer passing touchdowns, or generates more turnovers. Every statistical category that shows a positive trend can be considered to be an improvement.

It's all a matter of taste at that point. Which category do you believe to be the most important? Keep in mind that defensive backs who specialize in creating turnovers may also allow more passing touchdowns. All-Pro defensive back Jalen Ramsey denied receptions when he last played in the Rams defense, which discouraged quarterbacks from targeting his receiver. That, in turn, limited the number of interceptions he generated.

We could cover statistical trade-offs for many slides. But what about other improvements? A less recognized area of improving the Rams roster seems to be the one area that GM Les Snead never misses for an iota. That is improving the depth and quality of backups on the team as well. Why is that important? Invariably, several depth players will be called to start due to injury or lack of effectiveness from a starter. The Rams had to promote multiple offensive linemen to starting roles last season.

And had to do the same with defensive backs.

But the third area of improvement is one that fans seldom 'get,' and it's something that accountants will always detect. A team can upgrade its roster by getting similar production out of a less expensive player. It's that reason that keeps teams tapping the annual NFL Draft event as the primary onramp to adding players to their roster.

Rookies are insanely inexpensive for an NFL team compared to their veteran counterparts. All 32 NFL teams know this and leverage inexpensive rookie contracts to divert salary dollars to improve the team elsewhere. Right now, the Rams are spending pennies on the dollar on defense, thanks to the abundance of high-quality, inexpensive rookies on the defensive side of the football.

And so, we emerge with upgrades to the team's stats, depth, or salary cap as motivators to add a player or make a change to the team's roster. So, which upgrade makes the most sense for the Rams roster right now?

Jalen Ramsey vs. Greg Newsome

There is no shortage of NFL rumors that link Miami Dolphins defensive back Jalen Ramsey to the Los Angeles Rams. The team knows Ramsey, Ramsey knows the team, and the two parted ways amicably when the Rams fell to a 5-12 record in 2022 and realized that Jalen Ramsey deserved to belong to a more competitive team. Curiously, the Rams have played to a 20-14 regular season record since trading Ramsey to the Dolphins, and the Dolphins have played to a 19-15 regular season record.

Oops.

Is Jalen Ramsey a wise addition for the Rams' defense? Ramsey still carries an elite aura to the football field and shoulders the burden of outstanding defense admirably, no matter what the offense throws at him. While he may be seen as less dominating in pure pass coverage, he more than checks the boxes with elite run defense and sneaky-good pass rushing skills.

The thing is, he is expensive. Not only do the Rams have to trade for him, but they must somehow shoulder the burden of his 2025 salary cap hit.

If the Rams want to ensure one more Super Bowl appearance for veteran quarterback Matthew Stafford, then Ramsey makes a great deal of sense. And if the Rams see Ramsey as just a one-year deal? Ramsey comes with a $21 million guaranteed contract. So:

But is there a less expensive alternative to Ramsey?

One such young cornerback is a Cleveland Browns young cornerback, Greg Newsome II. Just 25 years old, Newsome is entering his fifth and final year of his rookie contract, with a huge spike up to $13.4 million for 2025. That is still cheaper than Ramsey's projected $21 million for one year. And at the age of just 25 years old, Newsome is a likely candidate to be re-signed to the team for 2026 and beyond if he pans out.

And NFL rumors in the days leading up to the 2025 NFL Draft reportedly had Newsome on the trade block.

Newsome does not pack the plug-and-play impact of Jalen Ramsey for 2024, but as a Round 1 rookie selection in the 2021 NFL Draft, he brings the potential to become a keystone in the Rams' secondary going forward. If the Rams have no interest in extending him, he can still trigger the NFL algorithm for a compensatory draft pick award in the 2027 NFL Draft.

Rams fans would love to see the team reunite with DB Jalen Ramsey in 2025. But the team still has some options if the secondary is still under consideration for an upgrade. For fans, it's simply a matter of kicking back and waiting for the team to make its move.

As always, thanks for reading.

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