The Los Angeles Rams were one of the best teams in the NFL in 2025, but they still fell short in an epic NFC Championship Game against the Seattle Seahawks. Now, with time running out on the Matthew Stafford era, the Rams are making a strong push to get over that hump and get back to the Super Bowl in 2026.
Los Angeles made a big splash on that front this offseason, trading healthy draft capital to the Kansas City Chiefs for star cornerback Trent McDuffie. Cornerback was the biggest need for the Rams coming into the offseason after it was the biggest weakness for Sean McVay and company in 2025, but McDuffie should fix a lot of those problems.
In free agency, the Rams reunited McDuffie with his old running mate Jaylen Watson, bringing the former Chiefs corner to Los Angeles.
Now that the secondary has been fortified, the Rams will continue finding ways to get better before the season starts. Here's one more big move the Rams can make to build a true juggernaut before the start of the 2026 season, and even though it's the free agency period, the next thing the Rams should do isn't necessarily go after a free agent.
The Rams should trade for an explosive wide receiver
In 2025, the Rams built arguably the best passing game in football off the backs of an MVP season from Stafford and a pair of star receivers in Puka Nacua and Davante Adams. Adams became the red-zone target that the Rams had been missing in prior years, while Nacua blossomed into arguably the best receiver in football.
However, Adams is going to turn 34 during the 2026 season and dealt with hamstring problems late in 2025 that hampered his productivity in the playoffs. Wide receiver isn't the deepest position group on the roster, so it wouldn't be surprising at all if Les Snead started looking for replacements.
Thankfully for the Rams, there are two wide receivers who could fill that role that Adams currently occupies on the outside and would give McVay an even more explosive option to go to.
The first is AJ Brown. Now, the Eagles have been reluctant to trade Brown, and it seems likely that the star receiver will be in Philadelphia for at least another season. However, it has been reported that the Rams have still been sniffing around Brown to see what his availability would be in a trade.
Brown would provide another physical monster for Stafford, like Nacua is, but he is more of an explosive downfield threat. Even if the Eagles aren't willing to trade Brown at the moment, his apparent rift with Jalen Hurts and some of the Eagles coaching staff could reopen that door at any point.
The second option, and perhaps one that isn't being talked about as much, is Jaguars wide receiver Brian Thomas Jr. Thomas struggled in year two after a huge breakout as a rookie, in part due to a role adjustment and some unwillingness to make plays and hang tough over the middle of the field. However, the trade for Jakobi Meyers relegated Thomas back to the outside, and he was mostly back to himself during the second half of the season.
The success of the Jacksonville offense as a whole during the second half of the season likely means that the Jags will want to keep the former LSU receiver around for another season to work with Liam Coen and Trevor Lawrence. However, his struggles during the season still make it worth a call for the Rams.
Los Angeles has shown to not be bothered by the high cost for proven players in terms of draft capital, so the likely big asking price to trade for either Brown or Thomas shouldn't scare the Rams off. If it means that McVay can juice up this offense even more and give Stafford a chance at winning one more Super Bowl before he retires, the Rams should strongly consider doing it.
