Peter Schrager is not buying the Rams’ offseason glow-up at face value.
On “The Pat McAfee Show,” the ESPN NFL analyst said the buzz around Sean McVay’s team has gotten way out in front of the reality, especially after Los Angeles lost the 2025 NFC Championship Game to the Seahawks.
“I have never seen a team have the hype and the bandwagon as full, having lost two of three games to an opponent in their division in the history of this sport from the year before,” Schrager said on Wednesday. “The Rams' hype and bandwagon is out of control.”
It’s not hard to see why the Rams have become the league’s loudest offseason talking point. Los Angeles added star pass rusher Myles Garrett and cornerback Trent McDuffie, and Aaron Donald also made a stunning return from retirement.
Still, Schrager argued that all that attention has pushed the Seahawks into the background, even though they’re the ones coming off the championship run.
“The Seahawks are sitting up there very quietly in their Pacific Northwest haunts, watching as everyone else talks about the Rams, as they bring back JSN with a happy extension, and they bring back Devon Witherspoon with a happy extension, and they bring back Leonard Williams and Shaheed and Hall, and bring in a first-round running back who they're very excited about.”
Seattle beat Los Angeles 31-27 in the NFC Championship Game before going on to defeat New England 29-13 in Super Bowl LX. Schrager also made clear this wasn’t just him pushing a McVay angle.
“Let's not forget about those Seattle Seahawks and their madman of a coach, Mr. Mike Macdonald,” he said.
The Seahawks head into 2026 with hopes of repeating, while the Rams remain the favorites in the NFC West.
Aaron Donald’s return has also sparked a separate wave of speculation about McVay’s future. Former NFL nose tackle Breiden Fehoko suggested the coach could be nearing the end after Donald came back from retirement.
“The only reason the multi-time Defensive Player of the Year is coming out of retirement isn’t to get double-teamed every Sunday,” Fehoko wrote on X. “No, it’s to ride off into the sunset one last time with his coach. Sean McVay will retire soon, so he doesn’t become another Mike Tomlin who coaches long enough for his fan base to run him out.”
Donald initially retired in 2024 before returning. Since then, McVay has continued to reshape the Rams, landing Myles Garrett and Trent McDuffie and extending Matthew Stafford.
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But Priscos view turns sharp once the playoffs actually begin. Even with the appeal of recent additions like Myles Garrett and the return of Aaron Donald, he is skeptical the Rams will handle the pressure of those expectations, and he has them falling in their first postseason game to the Seahawks. Its a warning that lands hard for a team built to contend, because the regular-season ceiling may be high even if the postseason path still looks fragile. [Read more 🡒]
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Rams Opener Just Got Tougher With Nick Bosa Trending This Way
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Bosa is traveling with the 49ers and said he is cautiously optimistic about being ready for the game, which is exactly the kind of development the Rams would rather not have to monitor this close to kickoff. He also sounded settled into the unusual road trip ahead, talking about the recovery process and even looking forward to trying some local coffee and checking out nature exhibits, but for Los Angeles the bigger issue is simple: the opener just got a lot more complicated if Bosa keeps trending this way. [Read more 🡒]