Welcome to the NFC West version of Optimus Fantasy’s Team Previews! Today, we’re looking at the Los Angeles Rams. In order to best know where we’re going, we often need to study where we’ve been. With that in mind, I will cover what the team looked like in 2024, fantasy significant changes to philosophy and personnel, and what I expect from the team in 2025. Your fantasy drafts are coming. Stay ready, so you don’t have to get ready.

The Los Angeles Rams in 2024

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Team Stats
PROE	-3.02
4th Down Go For It!	19.55
Target GINI	0.5003
Rushing GINI	0.8005 +
Plays/Game: Offense	61.1

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Let’s start off by defining a few things, shall we?

Note: Any stat highlighted green with a “+” means it’s significantly, at least 1 standard deviation, above average. Any stat highlighted red with a “-“ means it’s significantly below average. If the stat is highlighted in blue and doesn’t have a symbol, it is within the standard deviation for that stat.

PROE – Pass Rate Over Expectation

2nd and 1 for the offense? Sure makes sense to run. 3rd and 12? Yup, absolutely reasonable to pass. PROE measures how often a team passed the ball when we would “expect” them to run. Such as on 2nd and 1. Obviously, this is our expectation, and part of the strategy is to do the unexpected. So it’s not a perfect encapsulation. However, over 17 games, this gives us a general idea of how an offensive coaching staff envisions their offensive strengths.

4th Down – Go For It!

It’s kinda just what it sounds like. Unlike PROE, there’s no “expectation” to this stat. Of all 4th downs, this is how often a team chose to go for it. Higher rates mean an offense has more chances to accumulate fantasy points. Conversely, it’s not as great for kickers. 

Target GINI

This is where my background in economics comes out. Without going too far down the rabbit hole, Target GINI is how concentrated a passing attack is among pass-catching targets. A Target GINI of 1 means every target went to one player. Perfectly evenly distributed targets among players result in a Target GINI of 0. 

Rushing GINI

The same as Target GINI, but for rushing. So a Rushing GINI of 1 means one player had 100% of the rushing attempts. A Rushing GINI of 0 means every player received an equal number of rushing attempts.

“Ok, I get what GINI is, but how is it helpful for us?” You know, you’re really great with these questions. Are you sure you’re not a fantasy football expert? At any rate, these metrics tell us how concentrated or siloed a team’s passing and rushing attacks are. For fantasy, we’re looking for them both to be as close to 1 as possible.

Plays/Game: Offense

Literally just what it sounds like, this is an average of how many plays per game a team’s offense runs. The idea is that more offensive plays equal more opportunities for our players to score fantasy points. Simple enough, right?

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Top Performers (HPPR 2024)
Matthew Stafford	QB19
Kyren Williams	RB7
Blake Corum	RB81
Puka Nacua	WR28
Cooper Kupp	WR40
Demarcus Robinson	WR57
Colby Parkinson	TE39
Joshua Karty	K17

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Significant Offseason Changes from ’24 to ’25

Lost: Cooper Kupp, Demarcus Robinson

Added: Davante Adams, Jarquez Hunter, Terrance Ferguson, Konata Mumfield

Considering how prolific the Rams have been on offense over the past few years, it’s a little surprising that they spent three of their six draft picks on offensive skill players. None of Hunter, Ferguson, or Mumfield will likely make an impact this year, but they are names to keep an eye on for the future.

In 2024, the Rams’ offensive line overcame a litany of injuries and suspensions to be one of the better overall units in the NFL. They’ll try to run it back with mostly the same group in ’25, with the exception of C Coleman Shelton. Hopefully, he performs better than he did in Chicago last year.

As long as Sean McVay is still the head coach, the Rams’ offensive schemes and philosophies will remain the same.

Looking Ahead to the Los Angeles Rams in 2025

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Lou’s Confidence Level 1 – 5
Matthew Stafford	3
Kyren Williams, Blake Corum	4
Davante Adams, Puka Nacua, Jordan Whittington	5
Tyler Higbee	1
Joshua Karty	3

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Lou’s 2025 HPPR Rankings
Matthew Stafford	QB25
Kyren Williams	RB14
Blake Corum	RB55
Davante Adams	WR9
Puka Nacua	WR12
Jordan Whittington	WR110
Tyler Higbee	TE29
Joshua Karty	–

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Week	Opponent	Expected W/L
1	Houston	W
2	@ Tennessee	W
3	@ Philadelphia	L
4	Indianapolis	W
5	San Francisco	L
6	@ Baltimore	L
7	Jacksonville	W
8	BYE	–
9	New Orleans	W
10	@ San Francisco	L
11	Seattle	W
12	Tampa Bay	W
13	@ Carolina	W
14	@ Arizona	L
15	Detroit	W
16	@ Seattle	L
17	Atlanta	W

Lou’s projected 2025 “fantasy season” record: 9-7

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OK, Now For the Important (Non-Kicker) Rams

“Lou, you didn’t rank Joshua Karty!” Very astute, and you are correct. I’m a big believer in saying, “I don’t know,” when someone asks me about things I’m ignorant about. I’m kicker-dumb. So if you’re here looking for insight on kickers, I’m very sorry. The Rams’ offense should be good, and they play in a dome. However, they score more TDs than they kick FGs because they’re so good.

“Alright, you’ve gone off the deep end. You have Davante Adams ahead of Puka Nacua.” It’s true, I do. It’s entirely because I anticipate Puka missing a few games over the season, due to how he throws his body around with reckless abandon. Adams does not. As a result, even if Puka’s fantasy points per game (FPPG) are higher than Davante’s, Davante will outscore Puka on a season-long basis. If you don’t care and just want the higher FPPG because you can supplement Puka with a WR3/4 type and get greater production? That’s an excellent draft strategy – just flip how I have them ranked.

Whew, that Rushing GINI is something else, huh? That’s exactly what we want to see as fantasy players – all the rushing attempts filtered through a single player. In case that’s a little too nebulous to wrap your head around, just take a look at the difference in where Kyren Williams ranked last year vs where the Rams’ RB2 Blake Corum ranked. That’s Rushing GINI at work right there, and that’s how Sean McVay runs his offense. Yes, injury may befall Kyren Williams and force McVay’s hand. But if it doesn’t, I feel sorry for all of the Corum and Jarquez Hunter owners.

Much has rightly been made of Matthew Stafford’s ongoing back issues and his “will he, won’t he” flirtation with practicing. A few things can be true at the same time. First, Stafford is having “normal person serious” back issues. Next, the Rams were never going to enter the season after signing Davante Adams with Jimmy Garoppolo as their best option. And finally, we will have to drag Matthew Stafford’s dead body off the field one day, because he’s not coming off for anything less.

While his back is part of the reason he’s so low in my QB rankings, it’s also because he simply doesn’t run at all. When he does, it looks painful to even a “normie” like me. And heck, nobody wants to see me out there on the field on Sundays, I promise! Of course, this is on top of his back issues, as well. Put them together, and there are simply a lot of QBs I’d prefer to have, even if I do love the players he’s throwing to.

If There is a League Winner On the Rams, It’s…

Jordan Whittington.

If you said, “Who?!” I don’t really blame you. The Rams run their passing offense through their top two WRs just like they run their rushing offense through their top RB. So there’s a good chance you missed Whittington’s cup of coffee as a featured part of the offense in ’24. Yes, it was due to injuries to Cooper Kupp and Puka Nacua. Again, the passing attack runs through the top two WRs. However, over those two games, Whittington earned 18 targets.

The Rams hold their starters out of the preseason, and they treat joint practices with other teams as their preparation time for the regular season. The Rams have held Whittington out of every preseason game. While Davante Adams and Puka Nacua will be the passing offense’s primary targets, if either or both miss any time for any reason, Whittington will be there ready to step into that void.

Deep League Draft Target

The Rams drafted yet another young TE, but Tyler Higbee is still in the fold for them. While the Rams have never made him a focal point of the offense, Higbee has struggled to stay healthy due to a massive injury shortly after Matthew Stafford joined the team. Now fully healthy, Higbee is set to be the primary pass-catching option at TE once again for the Rams.

With an ADP of 294 according to FantasyPros, you can take a shot on this TE as a reasonable hedge for a stud TE build of your fantasy team.

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Lou Brunson is a Senior Analyst and THE social media brains for Optimus Fantasy. Find his dynasty stylings on right here and at draftbuddy.com.