The Los Angeles Rams are always linked to some big moves during the offseason, and one rumor that popped up this year was that they were potentially looking to trade Davante Adams so they can bring in A.J. Brown from the Philadelphia Eagles.
Adams and Brown are two of the best receivers in the league and have similar skillsets, although the latter is a few years younger. So on the surface that type of swap would make sense, but that doesn’t take the human element into account. Adams was one of the leaders in the Rams’ locker room last season and is coming off a year in which he led the NFL in receiving touchdowns.
When speaking at the annual league meetings, Rams head coach Sean McVay confirmed that trade discussions took place, but the team will ultimately be moving forward with Adams, via Sarah Barshop of ESPN:
“If we felt like it was best for our team, we would have done that,” McVay said from the league meetings Monday. “But we didn’t think it was best for our team.”
McVay said the reports that the Rams explored trading Adams were accurate, but said, “We have discussions all the time.”
“We really talked about some different avenues of onboarding other players and how it might affect Davante,” McVay said.
McVay also revealed that he kept Adams in the loop during discussions so he was not caught off guard by the reports:
“There’s a lot of stuff that’s out there that’s not accurate, but when there is at least some accuracy or some thought to it, you want to deal with that direct, honest and open,” McVay said. “And there’s been instances where I wasn’t as good about that in previous years, and so I don’t want to make those same mistakes.
“And he’s a grown man, and I think he understood that this is a part of this business, but I think what he also understood is at the end of the day, you’re a Ram because this is what’s best and I’m excited to move forward with him.”
The goal of every NFL team during the offseason is to improve their roster to compete for a Super Bowl, so it makes sense that the Rams explored every avenue to do that, especially considering their window is right now with Matthew Stafford in the twilight of his career.
Davante Adams wants to finish career with Matthew Stafford & Rams
Ultimately though, Adams is coming off an exceptional season and has made it clear that he would like to finish his career with Stafford and the Rams.
It remains to be seen how he truly feels about the trade discussions, but hopefully he is still happy to be a Ram and excited for the 2026 season.
