When the Rams turned in their 53-man roster on Sunday, the wide receiver group stood out immediately. Keeping seven receivers on the roster was already a little surprising. Doing it the same day the team traded for Tutu Atwell made it even harder to make sense of.
That move lands awkwardly against everything that has been said about how the Rams want to operate. There has been plenty of offseason talk that Los Angeles would lean more heavily into the 12 and 13 personnel looks that worked for them last season.
If that’s the direction, seven wideouts feels like a crowded room. And yet here they are.
Atwell is the biggest reason the decision raises eyebrows. The Rams took him in the second round, but his time in Los Angeles never really found a rhythm.
He never settled into a reliable role, and the team kept searching for ways to make him fit. Last offseason, the Rams gave him $10 million fully guaranteed, which suggested a bigger role might be coming.
Instead, he finished the year with six total receptions and missed seven games.
By the end of last season, it looked like both sides had reached the same conclusion: maybe it was time to move on. But now, heading into the 2026 season, Atwell is back in the mix, and the odd part is that not much appears to have changed.
He had already slipped behind Xavier Smith and Konata Mumpfield last year, and both of those players remain on the roster. On the Rams’ Week 1 depth chart, Atwell was listed as the seventh wide receiver. That’s a tough spot for a player whose skill set overlaps with pieces the Rams already have.
Atwell is cheap, and he brings experience. He also brings speed.
But Smith gives Los Angeles a deep threat of his own, and the Rams seem to value him more because of what he offers on special teams. Both players caught 3-of-7 deep targets last season, but Smith has the extra utility.
Mumpfield, meanwhile, gives the offense something different with his work in the intermediate game and his ability to move around alignment-wise.
Sean McVay was clear that the move had nothing to do with the possibility of a Puka Nacua suspension.
“He adds great depth,” said McVay. “It gives us that opportunity to be able to have that speed element, and he can do some different things. It had nothing to do with anything other than adding depth to the receiver room.”
There is a case for wanting more veteran insurance at the position. Terrance Ferguson is expected to be the third receiver option, Jordan Whittington is also in the mix, and CJ Daniels has impressed in training camp.
But each of those names comes with its own lane. Whittington is more of a special teams piece, and Daniels is a rookie.
That’s why the Atwell addition feels like it says something about the Rams’ confidence in their receiver depth, even if the team didn’t actually cut anyone to make room. If there were real concern about the group, the roster construction would have looked different. The Rams also passed on the chance to add Stefon Diggs or Keenan Allen.
So maybe the answer is that Los Angeles wants to stay flexible and rotate by committee instead of locking itself into one personnel grouping. That idea makes some sense. The harder question is whether there are enough snaps to go around for seven wide receivers.
The pecking order looks pretty set. Davante Adams and Puka Nacua are the starters.
Whittington can fill in for Nacua, especially in the slot. Daniels gives the offense outside size similar to Adams, even if he isn’t Adams.
Smith offers speed, and Mumpfield adds depth on the outside and in the intermediate areas.
Atwell, though, is the tricky piece. If his job is just to run deep, that can become a giveaway for opposing defenses. McVay has usually tried to avoid exactly that kind of tell, which is why receivers who can line up in multiple spots have always mattered to him.
There could still be a moment later in the season when having a seventh receiver with Atwell’s experience pays off. He did flash game-breaking ability last year, including the winning touchdown against the Indianapolis Colts. Even so, with this much overlap already in the room and so little changing from one year to the next, it’s hard to see a clear path to consistent snaps for Atwell - or to see how seven receivers really fits.
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