Davante

Adams

“If there was concern over whether Adams still had it as a perimeter wide receiver at age 33, this camp has put a lot of those questions to rest,” Atkins said, adding Adams had retained his otherworldly connection with Matthew Stafford. “Adams looks fresh and explosive, and he was virtually uncoverable in the joint practices against the Dallas Cowboys and New Orleans Saints.” Atkins conceded that the Rams “might have to get creative again with load management at times” to ensure Adams can get through a whole season without injuries. A whole training camp with Stafford — something he didn’t have in 2025 — could make Adams one of the sneakier wideout selections outside the first couple rounds of fantasy drafts.

McVay said he was up front with Adams about the possibility of a trade earlier this offseason, but said the team ultimately decided that trading the 33-year-old receiver wouldn’t do much to benefit the team. Adams caught 60 passes for 789 yards in his first season with the Rams, playing second fiddle to Puka Nacua, but still managed to haul in a league-leading 14 touchdowns while operating as one of the premier end zone threats in the league. The veteran receiver is under contract through next season and should continue to thrive in the role he was in last season, putting him in the conversation as a fringe WR2/WR3 with plenty of touchdown upside.

Financial investments at the wide receiver position could have been the Rams’ primary motivating factor, though having three high-end wide receivers can hardly be viewed as a negative, albeit a pricey one. Nacua is entering the final year of his rookie contract and will presumably sign “a significant second contract” soon. Adams is due $24 million this season and Brown is set to make $29 million. Florio believes today might have been the Rams’ self-imposed deadline for trading Adams away because his $6 million roster bonus just became fully guaranteed. It appears as though Adams will remain a Ram for 2026, but anything is possible. Stay tuned.

McVay added that he has no reason to believe Adams, who is under contract with the team through next season, would not be back. Adams, 33, didn’t stuff the box score with receptions or receiving yards this season, catching just 60 passes for 789 yards, but his 14 receiving touchdowns led all players in the league this season. Adam’s touchdown production kept his fantasy value afloat in 2025, but he’ll likely need to see similar numbers if his managers hope for another top fantasy finish next season.

If the last two playoff weeks made it seem like Adams was having trouble getting reacquainted with Matthew Stafford after a long hamstring-related layoff, this game certainly made it feel like the connection was back. Adams hauled in a dart that was just shy of the goal line, then cashed in with a red zone out. Adams led the league in receiving touchdowns despite not playing the last three weeks of the season, which both says something about how good the McVay passing offense was and how bad league-wide offense was in 2025. He’ll remain a likely WR2 in 2026 even entering his age-34 season. It certainly didn’t seem like he was losing anything physically this year.

Adams was mostly a non-factor in this one, although his 12-yard reception in the fourth quarter did help set up an eventual touchdown run by Kyren Williams to give the Rams a 17-10 lead. Adams appeared to have briefly left the game with an injury, but was later back on the field taking snaps. He also secured a 12-yard pass on the Rams’ final drive in overtime to help set up the team’s game-winning field goal. Sunday’s game against the Bears wasn’t the kind of game we have been accustomed to seeing from Adams this season. He’ll look to bounce back in next week’s road matchup against the Seahawks.

Adams and Stafford did not exactly look like they were on the same page for most of this game, though it should be noted that Adams dropped a few balls. It also bears mentioning that he’d probably have had 90 yards if not for a helmet-to-helmet breakup in the third quarter that sent Adams briefly for a concussion check. As far as “getting his legs” back fantasy games, it’s hard to ignore the pass volume that Adams was able to generate here despite leaving eight targets on the ground. Adams will clearly be involved in the high-end WR conversation for the Divisional Round, though this game gives us some pause on how high expectations should be set.

Adams looks likely to be full-go from the jump after three full sessions of practice this week. He probably could have played at any point after the Rams’ unfortunate Week 16 loss to Seattle, but there wasn’t much reason for him to risk it. He’ll be one of the top playoff best ball picks and DFS plays for this week with a solid matchup against the Panthers pass defense.

Rams head coach Sean McVay has already said Adams is expected to play in the team’s Wild Card matchup against the Panthers Saturday. The Rams only held a walkthrough Tuesday, but the estimation that Adams would be a full practice participant is good news. The veteran sat out the last few games of the regular season since aggravating his hamstring injury in Week 15 but the Rams will get their goal-line target back for the playoffs.

Adams hasn’t played since he re-aggravated his hamstring injury in Week 15 against the Lions. The 33-year-old receiver enjoyed one of his best seasons, catching 14 touchdowns from Matthew Stafford in 14 games. The Rams tried to recreate Adams in the aggregate, using tight ends and depth receivers in his spot over the last few weeks. Stafford and McVay have to be thrilled that Adams is coming back for the playoff game against the Panthers, a team that beat the Rams in Week 13.