The Rams keep paying for special teams with turnover and finger-pointing, but the deeper issue is the way Sean McVay and Les Snead have built the roster.
That showed up in the most important game of the 2025 regular season. With Los Angeles ahead of the Seahawks 30-14 in the fourth quarter in Week 16, Rashid Shaheed flipped everything with a 58-yard punt return touchdown.
Seattle rallied to win 38-37 in overtime, and that result ended up shaping the entire NFC West race. The Seahawks took the division, earned a home playoff path against the Rams in the NFC Championship Game, and rode that road all the way to a Super Bowl title.
If the Rams had held on in that game, the standings would have broken their way. The two teams would have finished with the same record, and Los Angeles would have owned the tiebreaker.
Instead of a playoff rematch in Seattle, the Rams would have been hosting it in Los Angeles. That loss hit hard enough that McVay moved quickly and fired special teams coordinator Chase Blackburn.
But the coordinator hasn’t been the real problem.
McVay pointed toward special teams again after Monday night’s overtime loss to the Bills, and the pattern is hard to miss: the Rams keep swapping out the person in charge of that phase, while continuing to build a roster that doesn’t give special teams much real support. Coaches can only do so much with the personnel they’re handed. The Rams have repeatedly chosen to funnel premium resources into offense and defense instead of making special teams a priority.
A recent analysis by Mike Sando of TheAthletic.com made that plain. He looked at five different ways teams allocate resources to special teams: how many players are primarily special teams contributors, whether reserve spots are used with special teams in mind, how often depth players lean on special teams rather than offense or defense, how many game-day actives barely see offensive or defensive snaps, and how often starters are asked to play on special teams too.
By every one of those measures, the Rams were near the bottom of the league. Seattle, meanwhile, was far more committed in all five areas.
Shaheed is the clearest example of how that philosophy pays off. At last year’s trade deadline, the Seahawks dealt a fourth-round pick and a fifth-round pick to the Saints for him.
That move mattered immediately, and not just after the fact. It was already being recognized as a difference-maker before Seattle won the Super Bowl.
And it’s fair to wonder whether the Rams would have been the team celebrating if they had been the ones to make that trade.
The Rams did make one move this offseason to address the issue, signing Grant Stuard mainly for his special teams value. Stuard is listed as a linebacker, but he has not played a single defensive snap this season. He has appeared in all five games strictly on special teams, which at least shows the Rams tried to respond.
Still, the results haven’t changed. The Rams have spent all year among the favorites to win the Super Bowl, but if they come up short, special teams may end up as the decisive flaw again.
And if that keeps happening, the bigger question isn’t about the coordinator. It’s about why this team keeps treating special teams like an afterthought.
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Seahawks Just Made A Special Teams Move That Could Matter Fast
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To make room, Seattle released running back and kick returner Velus Jones Jr., a move that underscores how tightly the roster is being managed heading into the next matchup. Charles now gets a chance to factor in right away, and the timing suggests the Seahawks want a fresh look on special teams as soon as possible. [Read more 🡒]