The Los Angeles Rams made moves in 2025 that indicate they’re planning for some late-season football.

They retained 37-year-old Matthew Stafford and added an older superstar in Davante Adams, which are good but risky moves when a team has a young and ascending defense. The Rams’ 2024 team took the Super Bowl-winning Philadelphia Eagles to the brink before losing and hope to get past at least the Divisional Round in 2025.

While L.A. looks like one of the best teams in the league, Bleacher Report’s Gary Davenport doesn’t think they’ll make it to or win the Super Bowl. He ranked the Rams as the No. 7 team in the NFL, but writes that their defensive issues are cause for concern.

“On one hand, the Rams have to be viewed as the team to beat in the NFC West — Los Angeles has a Super Bowl-winning quarterback, no shortage of offensive weapons and a stout young front seven defensively,” he writes. “On the other hand, the Rams have issues at linebacker, in the secondary and on the interior of the offensive line. The Rams may be a playoff team, but I don’t see them as a real threat to make it to Santa Clara.”

It’s hard to make that assessment before game is even played, but Davenport’s questions are legit. The Rams didn’t address their secondary in free agency or the draft, the interior of the offensive line is suspect and the linebacker depth isn’t ideal. Stafford and the offense can only do so much, as the Cincinnati Bengals proved in 2024 with their record-setting offense and abysmal defense.

The hope for L.A. is that their young and star-studded defensive front and can hold the line against good offenses while Stafford and company can cook on the other side of the ball. But it’ll be a few months before anyone knows for sure.

This article originally appeared on Rams Wire: Rams not ‘a real threat’ to make Super Bowl in 2025, analyst writes