Josaiah Stewart

Career StatsD

Year	Team	GP	Tkl	Sacks	INT
Career		17	22	3.0	—
2025		17	22	3.0	0

Current Contract

Contract Value Index (CVI)

The Rams secured an absolute steal with Josaiah Stewart's four-year, $6.3M extension, a deal that earns an A- CVI and represents exceptional value in today's linebacker market. At just $1.6M annually, Los Angeles is paying rotational player money for a defender who has consistently contributed in their defensive scheme, making this one of the shrewdest moves of the offseason. The minimal $1.2M guaranteed commitment keeps the Rams' risk extremely low while locking up a productive piece through his prime years. Stewart's contract structure is team-friendly across the board — if he develops into a full-time starter, this becomes highway robbery, and if he plateaus as a quality rotational piece, the Rams still win given the current market rate for reliable linebackers. This is exactly the type of value signing that allows championship contenders to allocate resources elsewhere while maintaining defensive depth, and it reflects Los Angeles' front office understanding of how to build sustainable roster construction around their core stars.

Performance Analysis

Josaiah Stewart enters the NFL as a raw, developmental linebacker for the Los Angeles Rams, still finding his footing through 17 career games. His current D-grade performance reflects the steep learning curve most rookie linebackers face adjusting to NFL speed and complexity. Early returns suggest limited immediate impact, though the evaluation window remains narrow. Stewart's tackle rate of 1.29 per game falls well below the NFL average of 3.80, a significant gap that signals he hasn't yet earned consistent defensive snaps. His TFL rate of 0.15 per game trails the league average of 0.40, pointing to limited disruptive ability in the backfield so far. The lone bright spot is his sack rate of 0.18 per game, which approaches the NFL average of 0.23 and hints at some pass-rush upside worth monitoring. Stewart's 2025 campaign grades out at an F, and at just 23, the developmental runway still exists to reshape that trajectory meaningfully. Rookie linebackers historically take 18 to 24 months to process NFL offensive schemes consistently, so patience is warranted before drawing firm conclusions. If the Rams expand his role and his tackle production climbs closer to league-average territory, a bounce-back grade is achievable by Year Two.

Current Sentiment

Josaiah Stewart enters the 2026 NFL season riding a wave of genuine momentum after a breakout rookie campaign with the Los Angeles Rams. Media coverage has been uniformly positive, with Stewart earning recognition as the team's most impactful rookie in 2025 — a distinction that carries real weight in a franchise with championship aspirations. His ability to generate pressure, force turnovers, and connect the defense as a communicator has drawn praise from both beat reporters and national outlets, suggesting his profile is rising well beyond a typical depth player. At just $1.6 million per year, Stewart represents one of the better value propositions on the Rams' roster, which only amplifies the positive narrative surrounding his development. Heading into 2026, the expectation is that Stewart will be asked to take on a larger role, and the early media consensus is that he has the tools and the momentum to deliver on that elevated billing.