Welcome to the thirty-second part of a thirty-two-part series: Reading the NFL Offseason Tea Leaves. Yeah, that's right, this is the final one in the series. Fantasy football tasseography is deeply rooted in predicting future fantasy fortunes. Some of the team's teacups we'll be looking into may be larger than others. The smallest of cups may have the most alluring blends of offensive weaponry, or be set to bloom after a long steep. This series will aid in your approach to Redraft and Dynasty leagues by bringing you up to date on:

• Free Agency
  • Re-signings, additions, who signed elsewhere, and what it means for fantasy.
• NFL Draft
  • What can we decipher about the direction a team is headed in based on their draft selections?
• Coaching Changes
  • Who's in, who's out, and how do the coaching philosophies translate to fantasy production?
• Fantasy Fortunes
  • What does this all mean for your fantasy football drafts?

Like tasseography, the arrangement of these four sections will vary as we digest each team's offseasons and see how the offensive pieces settle. Each article will interpret what this NFL team has told us about its future plans based on what it's done since its 2025 season ended.

Reading the Los Angeles Rams' 2026 Offseason

The Ty Simpson Pick and Stafford's Future

 The Rams' major changes to their fantasy-relevant roster happened during the NFL Draft. With the 13th overall pick, they selected Alabama QB Ty Simpson. If you're reading into this selection, you'd probably assume that the 2026 MVP, Matthew Stafford, has shared with the team that he plans to retire soon. Is that true? Not if you follow the money.

In March, Stafford restructured and extended his contract, and then in May he was extended even further with a 1-year $55M deal that keeps him with the Rams until 2028. Ty Simpson gives the Rams insurance on Stafford and a developmental piece when 2028 finally arrives.

We're too low on Stafford as a fantasy community when you take a look at how the Rams treated him this offseason.

The Loaded TE Room

With their next pick in the draft, the Rams took TE Max Klare. Yes, another TE. This is a team that frequently ran three TE sets in 2025; maybe we'll see the elusive four TE set this year.

Jokes aside, Klare is a good pass catcher who was buried on a talented Ohio State team last year. If he were to have been the number one option on a college offense, we'd likely be talking about him in the same breath as Kenyon Sadiq and Eli Stowers. Still, Klare has to beat out Tyler Higbee, Colby Parkinson, Terrence Ferguson, and Davis Allen. Klare needs to develop his skillset as a blocker to earn meaningful snaps in 2026.

Terrance Ferguson is getting quite a bit of buzz this offseason. It sounds like he's taken a jump after being selected with the 46th overall pick in last year's draft. Ferguson prevented this year's 16th overall pick, Sadiq, from starting at TE at Oregon in 2024.  Last year, Ferguson was used more as a WR than he was as an inline TE.

I'd expect this usage to carry over, and if he has taken a leap, this Rams offense is even scarier. TEs typically take three years to develop, and Ferguson is on track to meet this standard.

Parkinson is the best blocker of the bunch and will see the field plenty. Higbee might be surpassed and wind up 4th on the depth chart by the end of the year. 

The only reason four TEs made this article is because of the Rams' propensity to use three TE sets in 2025. The Rams dumped 150 targets to their TEs, but no one saw more than 56 targets. That's not enough to be fantasy-relevant. You're aiming for 60 total catches, and the Rams didn't even target a single TE 60 times.

Puka, Adams, and the WR Room

The WR target share is dominated by two household names: Puka Nacua and Davante Adams. Nacua is coming off a 129-catch, 1,700-plus-yard, and 11-total-TD season. Nacua's playstyle is extremely physical, and we've seen him get injured in years past. I'm not ranking him lower because of it, but it is worth mentioning when you're trying to decide how you'll build your WR room. In a healthy year, he'll be a top-3 WR once again.

Veteran WR Adams has fought off Father Time as he enters his 14th season at 33 years old. There's a trend of elite players having great seasons deeper into their 30s, and I think Adams will ride that wave into 2026. He is still a fantastic threat in the red zone and will be a fantastic WR3 with WR1 upside in your lineups this season. 

Behind these two are Jordan Whittington, Konata Mumpfield, Tyler Scott, and rookie CJ Daniels. I like Mumpfield the most of this bunch in deep dynasty leagues. There isn't any reason to draft another Rams WR in redraft or best ball.

Sync your Fantasy Football leagues with our League Hub FREE for a week 👆

Kyren Williams and the Backfield

Kyren Williams' ADP is being dragged down due to the presence of Blake Corum. There's chatter amongst the media of a 50-50 split this year. I don't subscribe to that line of thought. Williams amassed 259 rushes and 50 targets last year, which puts him in the RB1 conversation before looking at his production. Corum, on the other hand, had 145 rushes and 14 targets.

The Rams are paying Kyren Williams an average of $11M per year through 2028. We're getting a discount on an RB because he has a solid backup to keep him fresh. You don't pay an RB $11M to give him 50 percent of the snaps.

Now, what about Corum? He is an elite handcuff. If Williams were to go down, he would immediately be an RB1 based solely on the volume we can project for him on an elite offense. He's had a good offseason and is training as if he will shoulder an RB1 workload. Seriously, his workout videos are nuts. Even dating back to his time at Michigan, the workout tape is insanity. 

I don't want to count him out as a threat to Williams' workload, but ultimately, if we're reading the tea leaves, they affirm that Williams will lead this backfield with a plus-65 percent snap share. Corum will retain weekly flex value since this offense will likely put up points and will milk the clock after securing the lead.

This is a fantasy football article, but I'd be remiss not to mention the additions of DE Myles Garrett, the NFL's all-time single-season sack leader, CB Trent McDuffie, and DT Poona Ford. These three are massive additions that will lead to plenty of three-and-outs for opposing offenses, allowing the Rams' RB room to rack up rush attempts.

Coaching Changes: LaFleur Out, Scheelhaase In

Mike LaFleur left his role as the Rams' Offensive Coordinator for a Head Coaching role in Arizona. In his place, the Rams promoted former Passing Game Coordinator Nate Scheelhaase to be their OC. Scheelhaase has been with the Rams since 2024 and prides himself on studying play-calling trends to ensure he incorporates innovative strategies into the Rams' offense. Scheelhaase had multiple interviews for Head-Coaching gigs before becoming the Rams' OC. We shouldn't expect anything to change in the offensive system.

Fantasy Fortunes

If Stafford can stay healthy, we're going to see another high-octane Rams offense that gives us a QB1, RB1 and RB3, a WR1 and WR2-3, and a bunch of TE2-4s. Buy into this Rams offense everywhere except TE until/unless we see a TE dominate snap share early in the year. It looks like the offense is set up for life beyond Stafford in 2029 with the selection of Simpson.

Simpson is a fantastic luxury pick for contending dynasty rosters who can put him on their taxi squad and wait until Stafford retires before activating him. You'll need to have S-tier patience for that, but it paid off if you stashed Packers QB Jordan Love. Take the discount we're getting on Kyren Williams in your redraft leagues.

Cam White is a Senior Analyst & Host at Optimus Fantasy. You can find more of his work on our YouTube channel, and make sure to follow him on Bluesky.