It is Super Bowl week, and as the NFL universe descends on New Orleans, it sure feels like the Los Angeles Rams could have and maybe even should have been the NFC's representative.
Nonetheless, 2024 was a resoundingly successful season. From a humbling first month, the franchise managed to rally from 1-4 to win the division, sweep San Francisco, advance to the divisional round of the playoffs, establish its future on defense, break franchise records on both sides of the ball, and much more.
Before the NFL Honors take place on Thursday night in the Big Easy, and before the 2025 offseason begins in earnest, here are my year-end awards for the 2024 Los Angeles Rams.
Reserve of the Year | Free Agent Signing | Ironman | Comeback Player of the Year | Moment of the Year | Most Improved Player | Special Teams Rookie of the Year | Offensive Rookie of the Year | Defensive Rookie of the Year | Defensive Play of the Year | Offensive Player of the Year | Most Valuable Player | Welcome to Canton | Coach of the Year | The 1-of-1 Award
Reserve of the Year – Ahkello Witherspoon
Ahkello Witherspoon was not in training camp with the Rams, but by the end of the first day of practice at LMU, his name was at the forefront of everyone's mind.
With cornerback Derion Kendrick suffering an ACL tear during that workout, then subsequently Darious Williams tweaking a hamstring that would land him on injured reserve, the Rams needed reinforcements at corner. They turned to a free agent who had started for them a season prior.
Witherspoon dipped his toe back into the Rams facility, agreeing to practice squad terms. By Week 4, he was on the active roster, making a couple spot starts, but largely contributing as a rotational option until Cobie Durant was injured against the Buffalo Bills in Week 15.
From there, he served as a closer in the secondary, delivering signature pass breakups in a rivalry win at San Francisco (his former team), the division-clinching interception against Arizona, and the strip sack against Minnesota that led to Jared Verse's scoop and score in the Wild Card round.
Free Agent Signing – Kevin Dotson
2024 won't go down as a banner year in free agency, but one priority that paid off big time was extending right guard Kevin Dotson.
Through a season in which every other projected starting offensive lineman missed games, K-Dot was the one constant. If 2023 was his career-best (84.4 grade from Pro Football Focus), 2024 was the next best thing (77.7). Dotson came on strong in the second half, once Beaux Limmer at center and Rob Havenstein at right tackle locked in beside him.
Ironman – Kyren Williams
Like Dotson, Kyren Williams was an every week, every down performer in 2024.
Understanding that his rookie and sophomore seasons both included extensive injury absences, seeing the 24-year-old dress for every game the Rams needed to win was an individual triumph within a successful year for the team.
Layer in the context of his snap count and usage rate, and it's even more impressive. Only Saquon Barkley and Derrick Henry took more carries. No tailback was in his huddle more often. And for the second consecutive campaign, Williams punched in at least 15 scrimmage touchdowns.
Comeback Player of the Year – Tyler Higbee
Multiple members of the organization, including the head coach, said that the happiest they've ever seen a sideline for a teammate to score a touchdown was in Week 16 in the Meadowlands when Tyler Higbee leapt into the end zone to beat the Jets.
After multiple surgeries and 11 months of rehabilitation, Big Rig Higs elevated the Rams in December and January, catching 20 passes for 178 yards and three touchdowns in five games upon his return.
Moment of the Year – Demarcus Robinson walk-off in Seattle
It's important to stipulate here that these are regular season awards. Had we included postseason performances, Verse's scoop and score in the Wild Card win likely would have taken top honors.
But even before the playoffs, this honor had stiff competition, including the Higbee moment we just described.
Even within Week 9 in Seattle, Kamren Kinchens had two red zone interceptions, including a 103-yard pick-six, the longest defensive touchdown in franchise history. That would have been an easy choice for this award in another year.
However, I landed on Robinson's walk-off because without that overtime win in Seattle, on the eve of the NFL trade deadline, the course of 2024 might have been completely different. Instead of 4-4, the Rams would have flown home at 3-5 and alone in the basement of the NFC West.
Instead of LA holding the head-to-head over Seattle coming down the stretch, the Seahawks might have been the ones with clinching scenarios via the fifth tiebreaker.
It was a brilliant play call, a quintessentially clutch dime from Matthew Stafford, the signature moment of a career year for Robinson, and the most consequential play of 2024.
Most Improved Player – Ethan Evans
If you've followed Rams platforms this season, you've already read or heard me touting Ethan Evans as the most improved Ram. His rookie season proved he had the distance off the tee to belong on tour, but he wasn't making many cuts as a rookie.
In year two in LA, however, Evans compared very favorably to the 2024 All-Pros, Jack Fox of Detroit and Logan Cooke of Jacksonville.
Evans added more than three yards to his net punting average. His touchback percentage plummeted from over 11 percent to 3.6 percent. His rate of punts inside the 20 nearly doubled. He did not have a punt blocked. Additionally, Evans handled kickoffs for the Rams again this season.
Don't underrate his growth as a holder, either, leading to improved outcomes in the kicking game, because that's where we're going next.
Special Teams Rookie of the Year – Joshua Karty
After delivering a game-winner at SoFi Stadium against the 49ers in Week 3, it felt like Joshua Karty clinched not only that rivalry game, but the right to be the Rams kicker of the future. He was spotless through three games as a pro.
Life in the NFL is never that linear, especially not at his position, but one of the great success stories of 2024 was the way Karty and the kicking game endured.
To the extent a placekicker can be benched, the rookie selected 209th overall was sidelined by his head coach midseason.
Following a short miss in New England in Week 11, and another misfire in Week 12 versus Philadelphia, it became clear that the Rams were going to stick with Karty, but use him as seldom as possible. He did not attempt a field goal in Week 13 in New Orleans.
Next thing you knew, Karty had knocked down 17 in a row to close out his rookie campaign, including a four-for-four performance in the rain of San Francisco and two-for-two in subfreezing temperatures in the Meadowlands.
Karty won NFC Special Teams Player of the Month for December and nailed all his kicks in the playoffs to boot.
We also need to mention Jordan Whittington here, who was instrumental in the success of the punt coverage unit and received all-rookie honors as a kick returner.
Offensive Rookie of the Year – Beaux Limmer
The Rams planned to move Steve Avila to center in 2024…until the plan changed.
Then it became prized free agent Jonah Jackson thrust into the middle of the offensive line…an idea that was quickly scuttled due to injury.
In stepped the 23-year-old out of Arkansas who was a weight room hero – squatting 700 pounds and winning the bench press at the Combine – but despite holding up in the SEC, fell to the sixth round of the Draft. Thank goodness the Rams caught him there.
Limmer started seven straight; the Rams won four of them. In Week 10, they asked him to give the starting role back, and it did not go well against Miami. From that point forward, it was Limmer's job for good.
Not only did he play more snaps than any Rams rookie, he was in the offensive huddle more than anyone not named Stafford or Dotson.
Defensive Rookie of the Year – Jared Verse
The last two defensive players drafted in the first round by Les Snead and the Rams both won Defensive Rookie of the Year, and they did so a decade apart.
The first was Aaron Donald in 2014.
What higher praise could we possibly offer the 2024 season Jared Verse put together?
Defensive Player of the Year – Kobie Turner
Could we have also made Verse the 2024 Defensive Player of the Year? Absolutely. I think he deserved to be in the league-wide conversation, and he'll be a favorite going into 2025.
I gave Turner the nod for two reasons: His individual performance and the leadership he offered the Fearsome 2024Some.
You might recall a few outsiders questioning, could Turner do it without Donald attracting so much attention? (If you followed this space, you already knew Turner commanded and destroyed plenty of double-teams as a rookie.)
Sure enough, Turner finished Year 2 second on the roster in sacks, trailing only Braden Fiske in the regular season. Then he tacked on three more in the playoffs for good measure.
As a defensive captain, the Conductor brought this Royal Tour together.
Offensive Player of the Year – Puka Nacua
The only things that kept Puka Nacua from repeating as an All-Pro were his knee injury, second-quarter ejection in Seattle, and Week 18 respite.
Because when he was on the field, Nacua was appreciably better than his record-setting debut campaign. He eliminated drops, made outrageous catches week after week, was PFF's highest graded receiver, broke tackles, competed without the ball, and killed coverage indiscriminately – man or zone.
Puka was also the only Ram not named Kyren Williams to rush for a touchdown this season.
Most Valuable Player – Puka Nacua
While we're here, let's give Nacua MVP honors, as well.
Of the Rams' seven regular season losses, five were games Nacua either did not start or could not finish.
He enters Year 3 as LA's premier weapon and one of the NFL's elite WR1s.
Welcome to Canton – Matthew Stafford
MVP has become a quarterback award, and so we have to cut against the grain to not hand it over to Matthew Stafford again.
2024 was not as sterling as his 2021 or 2023. But without Stafford, the NFC West crown and playoff victory are not possible.
So I carved out a specialty category for him at the end of his 16th season, because we can say it definitively now: Matthew Stafford is a Hall of Famer.
We started the year by writing this:
We must concede that for now, Stafford is significantly below the threshold score of an average Hall of Fame quarterback. That and the fact he's never won an MVP or All-Pro honor mean there are headwinds working against his enshrinement.
We end the year recognizing that he's now firmly Top 10 in some important counting categories. He's tied for the winningest quarterback in franchise playoff history. He outdueled Josh Allen (who could be awarded league MVP later this week). He's ascended into the Top 25 on the all-time list of quarterbacks according to Pro Football Reference's Hall of Fame monitor.
The next step in his life and career may still be an open question, but Stafford's reservation for Canton no longer should be.
Coach of the Year – Chris Shula
Can we rewind the year that was from Chris Shula's perspective?
The good news is that you're finally getting the opportunity to be a defensive coordinator in the NFL.
The bad news? Well, there's a bit of a list.
First, the greatest player in franchise history is retiring.
And the team already has the most expensive offense in the league, so you'll have to do it on a budget in 2024...with only one first-round talent (he's a rookie, by the way).
Next thing you know, one starting corner suffers a season-ending injury before pads come on, while another added in free agency doesn't pan out.
And the team also needs to trade the defensive captain, green-dot linebacker, and single-season tackling king.
Against that backdrop and plenty more hurdles, Shula's defense accomplished the following:
Scored in four straight games, the Rams' longest streak since the merger. Scored a total of four touchdowns and two safeties on the year.
Held three straight opponents to single digits, something that had not been accomplished by a Rams defense in Shula's lifetime.
Racked up nine sacks in a playoff game, a franchise record and tied for the most of any team in the Super Bowl era. Those sacks went for 82 yards, most for any defense in the Super Bowl era. (Held those Vikings to single digits, too, by the way.)
Mentored two Defensive Rookie of the Year finalists and (we safely assume) the eventual winner.
Mentored a different rookie who was twice named NFC Defensive Player of the Week (Kam Kinchens).
Became the first NFL team since 2017 to have multiple rookies record at least four interceptions.
And of the Rams' 10 regular season wins, eight involved clutch, game-saving plays with the defense on the field deep in the fourth quarter or overtime.
There's a bevy of up-and-coming talent on this LA defense, and Shula is right at the top of that list.
His college roommate is no slouch, either.
The 1-of-1 Award – Sean McVay
Make that six 10-win seasons and four division crowns in eight years. The only campaigns under his guidance that have failed to reach the playoffs were the ones immediately following Super bowl runs.
McVay is now the winningest coach in franchise history – regular season, postseason, and combined.
His success has been so sudden and so sustained that he's already faced three of his former assistants…in the playoffs! There is no NFL precedent for that.
Last year in this award column, we acknowledged McVay as the greatest coach in franchise history. So what more can we say about the guy now?
It's hard to argue this was his best season, but only because we have to judge him against his past accomplishments. 2024 may have been his most complex and complete. And for that, we should count ourselves lucky to be living through the greatest coaching era in franchise history.
