Los Angeles Rams defensive tackle Braden Fiske knows the team is on the rise.
The Rams — just three years removed from a Super Bowl win — feature a completely different and young nucleus compared to the team that won Super Bowl LVI just a few years prior. While holdovers such as quarterback Matthew Stafford and head coach Sean McVay remain, most of the players on the roster weren’t a part of that team — just like Fiske.
The 24-year-old broke out onto the scene in a major way during his rookie season in 2024, finishing third in Defensive Rookie of the Year voting after posting the most sacks (8.5) of any first-year player. Despite starting out the season 1-4, the Rams finished out the year on a strong note, winning the NFC West, defeating the Minnesota Vikings in the playoffs and coming within a possession of defeating the eventual Super Bowl champs, the Philadelphia Eagles.
”When you make it that far in the playoffs and you do play the defending Super Bowl champions and play them close, it gives you that confidence booster,” Fiske told CasinoBeats in an exclusive interview. “Maybe just that idea we’re right there — like of course we’re right there. That’s obviously the goal and we’ll see how OTAs go and training camp and then we’ll kick it off Week 1 with whatever we got.
“We’ll see where we start,” Fiske continues to say. “Hopefully we don’t start as slow as we did this past season and we can make a run.”
The Rams had the third-youngest playoff roster in the NFL, featuring a nucleus of young and up-and-coming stars such as Fiske, Defensive Rookie of the Year Jared Verse and wide receiver Puka Nacua.
Fiske: Experience, Health Helped Rams Find Groove Late In 2024
Fiske explains how the young nucleus combined with injuries — former star wide receiver Cooper Kupp missed five games and Nacua missed six games — is what led to Los Angeles’ slow start.
”At the beginning of the season, we were banged up,” says Fiske. “We had a lot of injuries. Some of the top guys we had were banged up on the offensive line. Cooper is banged up, Puka is banged up, we had a lot of guys out. On top of that, how young the defense was, we were a defense made up of a lot of young guys, first and second-year players. You sprinkle in a few vets, but for the most part we’re built on youth.”
The young defensive tackle explains adjusting to the NFL took time for himself and the young guys. It wasn’t until Week 8 or 9 that the Rams really started clicking. It’s no coincidence that Los Angeles went 8-2 in their next 10 games after the midseason point.
It also didn’t hurt that the Rams started getting healthier towards the end of the season while other teams — the Detroit Lions being a notable one — started losing guys to injury.
”It wasn’t until really about Week 8, 9 until we really started to click and really start turning things around on defense and the offense is able to get healthier,” says Fiske. “You see we’re banged up in the early season on the IR list, and then at the end of the season, every team’s got, 10-to-15 guys in there. We had one, two or three.
“That’s when we started to get that confidence that we’re healthy, we’re feeling good, we’re on a roll,” Fiske continues to say. “I don’t know what the exact number was, but we went like 8-2 in a certain time span, that was pretty cool. Going into playoffs, we had a ton of confidence.”
Fiske: Divisional Round Loss to Eagles Could Be ‘Blessing In Disguise’
The Rams played their first playoff game in Arizona due to the wildfires that devastated the city of Los Angeles in January. Fiske describes the emotions of playing and winning that game before traveling to Philadelphia — the game was filled with snow — to play the eventual Super Bowl champion Eagles. Due to the No. 5-seeded Washington Commanders upsetting the Lions in the divisional round, the NFC Championship would have been played in Los Angeles with the Rams hosting.
”It was one of those moments where, you know, we just, everything that happened to us, all the adversity, you know, it was all gonna come out in that game and we were gonna take it up and give it to the Vikings,” says Fiske. “We won that game, then after that going to Philly say, ‘Hey, it’s all or nothing here.’ Obviously, Philly is one super great team. They handled the business and I think a lot of people in that stadium thought that game was going to end 29-28, and the Rams were headed back to L.A. for that NFC championship.”
Los Angeles was within 22 yards of scoring a touchdown to take a 29-28 lead over the Eagles with under a minute remaining in the game. However, Stafford was sacked on 4th-and-11 at the Eagles 22-yard-line to end the Rams’ chances of winning the game.
”It didn’t unfold that way,” says Fiske of the Rams advancing to the NFC Title Game. “I think that drives a lot of guys on this team and a lot of people in this organization for where this team is and where we’re headed and the future and what we have. I think it might have been a blessing in disguise for what we’re building on coming up in the next couple seasons.”
Although the Rams lost former Super Bowl MVP Kupp to the Seattle Seahawks following his release, they brought in six-time Pro Bowler and three-time All-Pro Davante Adams to replace him. They also added 29-year-old veteran defensive tackle Poona Ford, who has 101 games and 81 starts of experience under his belt. That should only make the Rams’ defensive line even better considering the Rams’ oldest starter on the defensive line is Kobie Turner at 25 years old.
Although Los Angeles is young, a deep playoff run and coming up one possession short of hosting the NFC Championship Game has the Rams thinking Super Bowl next season.
”That’s always the goal,” says Fiske of winning the Super Bowl. “If the Super Bowl is not the goal for your team, I think you have other issues coming on. But being that close in that game, being as competitive as we were at the end of the season, I think the big expectation is, how do you get better? Not individually, but as a team. Because like you said, we have a young nucleus, where can we build up from here? I like what we have surrounding us and we brought some guys in.”
