In wide receiver Cooper Kupp’s first press conference after signing with the Seahawks, he said it was “difficult” to leave the Rams and felt there was “not a ton of clarity” from his former team about their decision to move on without him.
Rams head coach Sean McVay responded to Kupp’s comments from the league meetings in Palm Beach on Tuesday. McVay said it was a “challenging conversation” with Kupp when they told him that they would release him if they were unable to find a trade partner, but that he felt that gave the wideout clarity about “this is the direction that we’re gonna go” even if the total context of that decision took time to come together.
“We thought Davante Adams would be a possibility,” McVay said, via TheAthletic.com. “We don’t know, you know, he’s going to have other interests. There was a possibility we were gonna re-sign Tutu Atwell, but we didn’t know at the time. I think the most important thing was when we had made the decision that we were gonna seek a trade or at least grant him his release, that was very quickly after the season, which I thought he deserved that clarity in regard to the direction we were going. Now, exactly why all those things occurred, there had to be a little bit of time to be able to provide the appropriate context. That wasn’t applicable in the moment.”
The difference between clarity and context may be a semantic one, but the underlying message that the Rams sent with their wide receiver moves was the same either way. That message was that they saw a brighter offensive future without Kupp than they saw with him and the coming season will provide clarity about whether that was the right choice.
Mike Macdonald has experienced coaching against receiver Cooper Kupp, so he has an appreciation for what the receiver can do in Seattle’s revamped offense for 2025.
Kupp, 31, was released by the Rams at the start of the new league year last month. He ended up with the Seahawks on a three-year deal worth a reported $45 million.
At the annual league meeting on Tuesday, Macdonald explained the challenges he faced when scheming against Kupp — which he’ll now get to deploy while coaching him.
“You could have him covered on paper, but he’s still going to get open,” Macdonald said. “That’s something you have to experience in-game. So, he’s a guy that you have to account for on a lot of possession downs, high-leverage situations where we’ve got to have two guys on this guy. It’s a little bit different than some straight-line, vertical guys where you want more of a high-low double. You want him surrounded as much as possible. You’re allocating resources over there, it kind of shifts where those stress points are on the rest of the field.
“So, yeah, he’s a pain in the butt.”
Kupp has not played more than 12 games in a season since he put up one of the best-ever years for a wideout in 2021, winning AP offensive player of the year and Super Bowl LVI MVP. In 2024, he caught 67 passes for 710 yards with six touchdowns in 12 games for the Rams.
The league has tabled the Lions’ proposal to determine playoff seeding solely by record, according to multiple reports.
That the measure was tabled and not voted on suggests that it has some significant support around the league — even if it does not have enough votes to pass for now.
The proposal would mark a significant shift in the way the postseason matchups are determined, as currently the four division winners in each conference are guaranteed a home playoff game. If the Lions’ proposal is eventually adopted — at the owners meeting in May or down the road — it would inherently devalue a division title.
That’s the issue Rams head coach Sean McVay had with the proposal when discussing it during a PFT Live interview on Monday.
“I’m hopeful that doesn’t go through,” said McVay, who is a member of the Competition Committee. “I would be all for it — if we played all 15 NFC teams and then two cross-conference games. But when you’re playing six divisional games, then you’ve got the strength-of-schedule based on whatever the previous year’s record was and finish, it’s not all the same. And so, I do think there is something to be said for winning your division. That means something.
“And until, really, there’s an adjustment in regards to like schedules, things of that nature, I think it’s going to be tough.”
The schedule format won’t change in 2025, but there’s a chance the postseason seeding still might.
It’s going to be hard to find 24 teams that sufficiently oppose the “tush push” to nudge it from the rulebook. But there are some who believe the play doesn’t belong in the game.
Rams coach Sean McVay, a member of the Competition Committee, explained his position during a Monday visit to PFT Live. The comments came a day after a reportedly “animated” conversation between McVay, Bills coach Sean McDermott, Eagles G.M. Howie Roseman, and Eagles assistant G.M. Jon Ferrari.
“Here’s what I would say,” McVay said. “I don’t — and I told these guys this — I don’t believe in taking something out because they do it better than anybody else. And I told both Jon and Howie that when we were talking yesterday.
“What I don’t like is the optics of that play. Looks like a rugby scrum. And there are some health and safety things, which those things exist in short yardage and goal line situations as well. I’m kind of conflicted because you don’t wanna be a hater because they do it better than anybody else, so I don’t agree with that. But I also wish we didn’t let the play in in the first place in regards to just the optics of what it looks like. Doesn’t look like football to me. And Jon, you know, those guys they understood it, but obviously, you know where they stand on that.”
One problem comes from the current proposal, as formulated by the Packers. The rule would prohibit teammates from “immediately” pushing the ballcarrier. That term might create more questions than it answers.
“Those are a lot of the conversations in terms of the semantics, the specifics, and then I think a lot of the dialogue goes back to even some of the conversations we’ve had on the Competition Committee is, ‘All right, how do we allow it to be officiated in a clear manner and that’s where some of the things get granular?’” McVay said. “What I understand from Green Bay’s proposal is it’s specifically that play in regards to the immediate push behind the center and what that represents. What is that time? Within a second is what they kind of had communicated to us, but it does open up some other things and the consistency across — you have an appreciation for the challenges and the semantics with that. I’ll be interested to see how that vote goes tomorrow.”
It almost seems as if it would make sense to come up with a new proposal. Something that more consistently and reliably addresses the issue, such as eliminating the ability to push the ballcarrier at all or, at a minimum, no pushing of the ballcarrier within the tackle box. McVay was asked whether he thinks the owners could decide to rewrite the current proposal in those or other ways.
“I think that might be something we would visit a year from now or maybe even when the owners meet again in May,” McVay said, “but for tomorrow, I don’t necessarily think that’s the direction, but I would be really interested to see how they vote.”
He acknowledged it will be difficult to get to 24. Sometimes, however, it’s important to have the discussion in order to see whether any support builds behind any specific idea for addressing the problem.
And, as McVay said, it perhaps would have been better for the play to have never been allowed in the first place. In that regard, the league has only itself to blame for removing from the rulebook in 2006 the prohibition on pushing the ballcarrier.
It’s amazing it took a team 16 years to figure out how to weaponize that tweak. It’s even more amazing that only two teams (the Eagles and Bills) have found a way to take full advantage of it, with Philly’s version far more likely to rely on an “immediate” push.
Now through his third season, Rams running back Kyren Williams is eligible for a contract extension.
General Manager Les Snead told reporters at the annual league meeting on Monday that he’d like to see that happen.
The Rams have met with Williams’ agent, Drew Rosenhaus, in Florida over the last few days. While the two sides don’t appear close to a deal yet, Los Angeles would like one to come to fruition.
“[W]e would definitely like to engineer a long-term partnership with Kyren,” Snead said, via Stu Jackson of the team’s website. “Kyren’s a great human, we all want this to work out. It’s just, can we agree upon a contract where we both feel like [it] is a win-win moving forward?
“And if it doesn’t happen this year, it doesn’t mean that Kyren’s not going to be a part [of the Rams] next year. It doesn’t mean we don’t do something a year from now.”
A fifth-round pick in 2022, Williams has become one of the NFL’s most productive backs over the last two years. He rushed for 1,144 yards with 12 touchdowns in 12 games in 2023 — leading the league with 95.3 yards per game. He then tallied 1,299 yards with 14 touchdowns in 2024, adding 34 catches for 182 yards with two TDs.
He also had 182 yards on 35 carries plus four receptions for 15 yards with a TD in two postseason games.
Williams has one more year on his rookie contract and is currently slated to become an unrestricted free agent next March.
More than a month ago, the Rams and quarterback Matthew Stafford struck a deal on a new contract for 2025.
The contract has not yet been signed.
“We sent it to [agent] Jimmy Sexton this week and so I think it’s just semantics,” coach Sean McVay told PFT Live on Monday. “I don’t know if they’ve officially signed that or not. But unless he has a change of heart, it’s — semantically, it is done.”
McVay added that, when it’s done, it will reveal the true compromise the two sides reached.
“It’s gonna be a great representation of the selflessness of Matthew Stafford, the ability for us to be able to say, ‘All right, we had some hard conversations but we were able to come to a collaboration and understanding of, Hey, we love you. We want you here. This is how we’re able to build the right team around you but also make you feel appreciated.’ And he did, you know he made some sacrifices to continue to stay with us and for that I’m damn grateful.”
Stafford is currently due to make $27 million in 2025. That’s the number that will remain on the books until the new contract is signed.
The NFL announced the expansion of its Global Markets Program, adding four new NFL teams and two new markets.
The Ravens, Packers, Chargers and Commanders are the new teams to gain international marketing rights in other countries. The Ravens were granted rights in the United Kingdom, the Packers in Germany, Ireland and the United Kingdom, the Chargers in Greece and the Commanders in the United Arab Emirates.
Greece and the United Arab Emirates are the new markets for 2025.
The Rams and 49ers, along with the Commanders, now have international marketing rights in the United Arab Emirates.
The NFL is interested in the possibility of playing a regular-season game in Abu Dhabi.
“We don’t know the timing, and it’s really an ‘if’ in terms of whether we’ll play a game there,” said Peter O’Reilly, the NFL’s executive vice president, club business, major events and international. “But I will say is that’s a market where there’s strong interest in our game, strong interest in growing our game on a year-round basis. I think that’s why you see three clubs raising their hands with interest there. It’s a market we’ll continue to explore. We’ve done some exploratory trips there to understand the viability of the potential for a regular-season game in the market. We have more work to go there in terms of what that looks like over this next stretch. But obviously an important market and one that has hosted significant events in other sports in recent years whether that’s NBA or global soccer. There are learnings there, but we really do it as we try to do all these markets in the right, thoughtful cadence way.”
In total, 29 clubs will participate in the global markets program across 21 international markets — up from 25 clubs across 19 markets in 2024 — as the NFL continues to prioritize global growth.
The NFL will play seven games outside the country in 2025 and could expand in 2026.
When the NFL suspended Rams wide receiver Drake Stoops two games for violating the league policy on performance-enhancing substances, the NFL announcement did not say what substance Stoops took. Stoops says it was Adderall.
Stoops said he took the medication to help him stay awake while driving. He acknowledged that he did not have a therapeutic use exemptions, which is required of players who take Adderall and some other prescription medications that are on the banned substance list.
“It was just an honest mistake,” Stoops told the Oklahoman. “It’s not steroids or anything like that, and I would never try to gain an unfair advantage or cheat the game or the process in any way like that.”
Several NFL players have been suspended for taking Adderall, which is a trade name for a stimulant used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and narcolepsy.
Stoops said he appreciates how the Rams have handled the matter.
“When I reached out to the Rams, they were nothing but supportive and great about it,” Stoops said. “They’ve had my back the whole entire way and that means the world to me. So, I’m excited to have that behind me now and go forward and just put my best foot forward.”
The son of former Oklahoma head coach Bob Stoops, Drake Stoops was generally not viewed as an NFL prospect during his six seasons at Oklahoma, but he made the Rams’ practice squad last year as an undrafted rookie and spent the whole season with the team. The suspension is a setback but won’t keep him from fighting for a roster spot this year — starting in Week Three.
Rams wide receiver Puka Nacua does not want a long NFL career.
Nacua, who will turn 24 in May, said on the Join The Lobby podcast that he will retire when he’s 30.
“I know I want to retire at the age of 30,” Nacua said, via USA Today. “I’m 23 right now, I’m going into Year 3 – it wouldn’t even be 10 years. It’d be maybe seven or eight. I think of Aaron Donald, to go out at the top, I think it would be super cool. But also, I want to have a big family. I want to have at least a starting five. I came from a big family so I need five boys, for sure. But also, like, I want to be able to be a part of their lives and be as active as I can with them. The injuries are something you can’t control [as] part of the game, so you never know. Hopefully, the rest of the career can go healthy, but you have shoulder surgery, you have knee surgery, you have ankle. By the time my kids could be 18, I could be barely walking if you play the game and sustain all the injuries and stuff like that, but I want to retire early.”
A 2023 fifth-round pick of the Rams, Nacua is going into his third NFL season. He’ll be 30 in his ninth NFL season. That would give him an even shorter career than Donald, who retired after 10 NFL seasons. Nacua has plenty of time to change his mind, but for now he doesn’t think he’ll be around long.
After he was released by the Jets, receiver Davante Adams signed a two-year deal with the Rams earlier this month.
Having played in the NFC North for several years, Adams and quarterback Matthew Stafford are used to going against one another. But now they’re teammates seeking a championship in Los Angeles.
Over the weekend, Stafford touted Adams’ signing as significant.
“I have a ton of respect for him, the way he goes about his business and the way he plays the game,” Stafford said, via Gary Klein of the Los Angeles Times. “He’s been a big-time in this league for a long time, so happy to have him. I know he’s going to be a big addition to our team.”
Adams, 32, split his 2024 between the Raiders and Jets, catching a total of 85 passes for 1,063 yards with eight touchdowns in 14 games. He’s eclipsed 1,000 yards in each of the last five seasons.
