The Rams had the NFL’s most complete team before adding a future Hall of Famer in Myles Garrett.
They had already moved four draft picks, including a first-round pick, for Trent McDuffie, whom they quickly made the highest-paid cornerback in NFL history. They patched other holes via free agency and have a 38-year-old MVP quarterback in Matthew Stafford, who is entering his 18th and possibly final season.
And still, they are awfully well-positioned for the future. The future of Sean McVay’s Rams looks so encouraging that it seems unfair for them to truly be considered “all in.”
Exhibit A: They spent this year’s No. 13 pick on quarterback Ty Simpson, who they don’t want to play until 2028. A luxury pick in a championship window! Must be nice.
Exhibit B: Nearly $20 million in cap space in 2026 and the fifth-most projected cap space in 2027, thanks to the Browns eating Garrett’s signing bonus. Yes, they have room for … Aaron Donald. Unlikely, but just imagine!
Exhibit C: Loaded with young talent. Superstar Puka Nacua had his 25th birthday just six days ago and appears to be maturing, while McDuffie, running back Kyren Williams and safety Kamren Kinchens are all 25 or under.
But yes, the Rams are all in. Adding Garrett has them firmly positioned as Super Bowl favorites, well ahead of the reigning champ Seahawks in BetMGM’s odds.
Next: What “all in” means in the NFL and how often it works out.
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What qualifies as ‘all-in’ in the NFL?
What does a team need to do for it to ‘bet the farm’ on a championship window? I asked our senior writer Mike Sando that exact question. Here’s what he said:
💬 “You know it when you see it. Going all in means sacrificing longer-term flexibility for shorter-term results in an extreme manner. There are multiple ways to leverage future for present.”
“Trading future high draft picks can be part of it. Pouring cash into the current roster can be part of it. The Eagles have been ‘all in’ in recent years without necessarily trading away a ton of high picks. The Rams are ‘all in’ now without necessarily pouring tons of cash into the current roster.”
Building off Mike’s answer, I’d suggest three elements necessary for a team to qualify as “all in” in any season:
1. Having made the playoffs the year prior and either:
(A) Trading multiple (at least two) first-round picks for veteran players, or
(B) Leveraging void years to minimize short-term cap hits, since this comes at the expense of the future.
Sure, adding marquee free agents (like the Rams did by signing cornerback Jaylen Watson) or older rentals (like signing receiver Davante Adams last offseason) matters for team-building, but that’s not sufficient.
A team should have made the playoffs the year prior, or else they are simply accelerating a rebuild, rather than going all in (in my opinion; if you have ideas on what constitutes “all in,” please share them here).
How often does “all in” work?
Here’s a quick list of teams that qualify for the criteria above (draft-pick trades) and how they fared in the subsequent season, with their records in green if they made the playoffs that year.
First, there are fewer teams that I thought.
Second, this concept of trading multiple firsts is a relatively new phenomena, with no playoff team moving multiple firsts from 2011 to 2018 (Bears trade for Khalil Mack doesn’t count, since Chicago didn’t make the playoffs the year prior).
But boy are the results there. Three playoff appearances and one Super Bowl in five tries? Not too shabby! If the Rams are successful in 2026, when L.A. hosts the Super Bowl, I’m expecting an “F— Them Picks” sentiment to spread across the league like wildfire. More win-now deals like these? Yes please.
As for the salary-cap prong, it really only applies to a few teams. Here’s a quick list of those who made the playoffs the year prior and then pushed salary-cap hits forward:
Yes, the 2024 Browns qualified for the salary-cap requirement (thanks to Deshaun Watson’s contract) and the playoff requirement (thanks to Joe Flacco, plus Garrett and star coordinator Jim Schwartz, with the latter two lost this offseason).
Another thing becomes immediately clear: Teams that spend cash heavily don’t feel like “all-in” teams. To return to Sando’s point that “you know it when you see it,” I am yet to see the Bills going all in on any season. So despite spending nearly as much as any team, Buffalo needs to trade multiple first-round picks before I consider them “all in” during Josh Allen’s championship window.
Adding a Myles Garrett would’ve been a start. Instead, the Rams might break the NFL. Our writers got the inside scoop on how that deal went down.
🎙Keep an eye on Tyler Shough
Jaxson Dart and Shedeur Sanders dominated headlines as rookie quarterbacks. That theme seems to be continuing for the sophomore versions of both Dart (more here) and Sanders (details here).
But don’t forget Cam Ward and Tyler Shough. In today’s episode of “The Athletic Football Show,” the crew looks back at how last year’s rookie quarterbacks actually played. This meant countless hours of film for Ward, Dart, Shough and Sanders prior to recording.
💬 Here’s Robert Mays on Shough: “The most important and impressive thing is how often he’s accessing the middle of the field deep into progressions. It’s happening pretty often.
“My favorite thing to watch them do last year is Shough just rifling in those wrap routes over the middle of the field. And when you compare his ability to throw the ball with anticipation into windows that have not come open yet over the middle of the field, and even on out-breaking stuff to (Chris) Olave … he’s playing with like real anticipation for a rookie quarterback.
“And I think that to me was one of the most impressive things going back and watching those games that consistently stood out about Shough.”
I promise you’ll be a smarter football fan after this episode. Click here to watch it now.
Extra Points
👀 Maxx Crosby speaks. “It’s nothing to me,” said Crosby on the botched Ravens trade. “The biggest pet peeve of mine is when people see me and they’re like, ‘Hey, are you good?’ I’m like, ‘S—, I’ve never been better.’” He’s also nearing a return.
🚑 Worried: Rams opponents. Rightfully so. The addition of Garrett means L.A. arguably fields the league’s best offense and defense. Ted Nguyen details how Garrett changes games. Great read.
📓 What’s next for Cleveland? As Jason Lloyd writes, all that matters is who starts for the Browns at quarterback in 2027. This line, referring to the Cleveland’s adjustment to a weak quarterback class, made me laugh: “The Browns did what they do best: They punted.” Browns GM Andrew Berry explained the trade here.
▶️ Friday’s most-clicked: The all-caps Myles Garrett trade announcement, of course. Boom.
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