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No team has won two Super Bowls in its home stadium.
The Rams aim to be the first.
With free agency set to begin next week, general manager Les Snead and coach Sean McVay are ramping up their attempt to fortify a roster that is expected to make the Rams one of the favorites to play in Super Bowl LXI at SoFi Stadium in February 2027.
The Rams did it before. In 2021, when the team traded for quarterback Matthew Stafford in January, re-signed edge rusher Leonard Floyd, and bolstered the team late in the season by signing receiver Odell Beckham Jr. and trading for edge rusher Von Miller.
The result: A victory over the Cincinnati Bengals in Super Bowl LVI.
The Rams will downplay the narrative that they are once again going all-in for a chance to win a Super Bowl at home. But with Stafford and star receiver Davante Adams in the final years of their contracts there is an urgency to repeat the feat of 2021.
Read more:Rams promote Nate Scheelhaase to offensive coordinator
To do that, the Rams must improve a team that last season finished 12-5 and advanced to the NFC championship game before losing to the eventual Super Bowl-champion Seattle Seahawks.
The Rams have obvious needs at cornerback and receiver. Like all teams they could explore bolstering the pass rush among other position groups.
During a videoconference with reporters on Tuesday, Snead said the trade market this time of year is “probably more intense than at the trade deadline.”
The Rams currently have 10 picks in the 2026 draft, including the 13th and 29th selections in the first round.
And Snead has never been shy about trading picks in blockbuster and lower-key deals.
Last year, the Rams signed Adams before free agency began, and then signed center Coleman Shelton, defensive lineman Poona Ford and linebacker Nate Landman after it started.
“If we can use free agency to not be desperate in the draft, we more than likely will be better drafters,” Snead said, “because we’re not reaching, we’re not desperate, we’re not going in there with a major void, a major hole that has to be filled.”
The Rams’ biggest need is in the secondary, particularly a cornerback group that was essentially no different than the 2024 unit.
Cornerbacks Cobie Durant and Roger McCreary are pending free agents.
Does Snead want them back?
“We’re working through those scenarios,” Snead said.
Veteran cornerback Darious Williams is due to earn a base salary of $7 million in the final season of his contract, according to Overthecap.com. That makes him a candidate to be released or traded.
Veteran Ahkello Witherspoon and Derion Kendrick also are pending free agents.
Snead said the Rams were “working through” whether to exercise a fifth-year option on cornerback Emmanuel Forbes Jr., a 2023 first-round pick by the Washington Commanders. If the Rams exercise the option by the May 1 deadline, Forbes would be guaranteed $12.6 million in 2027.
Safety Kam Curl, who played well last season, is a pending free agent. Asked if the extension safety Quentin Lake received in January makes re-signing Curl less likely, Snead said no because they play different roles.
In whatever way the secondary is remodeled, the players will be taking direction from new defensive backs coach Jimmy Lake, who replaced Aubrey Pleasant.
“We had been together for seven of nine years,” McVay said of Pleasant during a separate videoconference with reporters, adding, “He made tremendous contributions to us, but just felt like it was going to be in the best interest of both parties to be able to move on.”
Stafford, 38, is due to earn $16 million in base salary and carry a salary-cap number of $48.3 million in the final year of his contract, according to Overthecap.com. Snead did not rule out the possibility of an extension for the reigning NFL most valuable player, but the more probable scenario is that the Rams will adjust his contract, as they have done each of the last few seasons.
“That is in a very stable, let’s call it, situation, condition,” Snead said.
Said McVay: “Feel confident about being able to work those things out.”
The Rams are “always working through” post-Stafford scenarios, but “it’s not a desperate matter,” Snead said.
Veteran backup quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo also is a pending free agent. McVay acknowledged that he saw an ESPN report indicating that Arizona coach Mike LaFleur, the Rams’ former offensive coordinator, would be interested in bringing in Garoppolo.
“I love Jimmy,” McVay said. “Would absolutely want him back. … I’m also not naive to the fact that he’ll probably have a lot of opportunities, and if those are things that he wants to pursue that give him a chance to play I would understand that.”
Read more:Former Cardinals coach Kliff Kingsbury to join Rams' staff
Snead and McVay said there have been no discussions about extending or restructuring Adams’ contract. Adams, who led the league in touchdown catches, is due to earn $18 million in base salary on a salary-cap number of $28 million, according to Overthecap.com.
“Feel good about where we’re at there,” McVay said.
Etc.
McVay is excited about the addition of assistant head coach Kliff Kingsbury to a staff that will include offensive coordinator Nate Sheelhaase and associate coordinator Dave Ragone. But McVay will continue to call plays. “I’m not necessarily married to always doing it but that is the plan to continue to do that,” he said. Kingsbury is a “great overseer of a lot of things offensively,” McVay said. “The biggest thing will be that collaboration of understanding some of the successful things he’s done, some of the things we’ve done. … What’s intriguing to me about it is, it’s very different than what we’ve done, and just because it’s different doesn’t mean that it can’t be better…. Veteran tight end Tyler Higbee is a pending free agent, but McVay said the Rams were “giving him his time” to decide whether to continue his career. “If that’s something that he wants to do, then we would be interested in continuing that relationship with him,” McVay said.
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.