Former Ohio State Buckeyes tight end Max Klare, a one-and-done transfer in 2025 via the Purdue Boilermakers, was taken with the No. 61 pick in the 2026 NFL draft by the LA Rams. With a crowded tight end room in Tinseltown that includes Colby Parkinson, Tyler Higbee, Davis Allen, and Terrance Ferguson but lacks a true standout in the passing game, Klare has an immediate opportunity to make an impact.
I got a chance to speak to legendary Rams left tackle Andrew Whitworth about Klare and other Rams-related topics in promotion of NBC's 2026 American Century Championship on July 8-12. Whitworth is one of over 90 celebrity athletes taking part in the annual golf tournament from the Edgewood Tahoe Resort in Stateline, Nevada.
One thing Whitworth noted about Klare's fit in Sean McVay's offense is that he can be a potential receiving threat -- many see him as a "big slot" because of his so-so blocking and lack of size for the tight end position -- during a time when it's impossible to build too deep a receiving room because of an exploding WR market.
The Rams are also adapting to NFL defenses, increasingly throwing out more two-high coverage shells with safeties and the increasing presence of more linebackers slipping in underneath coverage in their schemes by having more big blockers to combat those trends, hence the deep TE room.
"I think when you really look at the shift, some of these teams are using more tight ends, getting more guys on the field... I think when you start to look at the complexity of the game and really how defenses are starting to play these shell coverages, and how they're trying to play, we call it sickle walls, it's sickle all the time... but the truth is that the reason why, is that now it's starting to be like, 'Alright, if you have all these answers for how you're going to make us check the ball down to do all these things, then well, we're going to put more big guys on the field. We're going to have more opportunities for tight ends to be in there where we can run the ball really efficiently, and now we can use those guys against the guys that you've got to load up the box and put some bigger linebackers, things like that, on the field to be able to stop us,'" Whitworth said when I asked if Klare could see the field more in a McVay offense that deploys many heavy-personnel packages.
"You know, that's really what set Seattle apart last year: their safeties. They were kind of built to be able to play any kind of personnel package that you put on the field. And I think that's what helped them a lot. So I think for the Rams, it's like, 'Hey, here we are in this world, we can't just keep hoping that we're going to get more Davante Adams, Puka Nacua's, Cooper Kupp's, like it's a lot harder to keep three to four really good receivers all the time. Let's continue to load up the tight end position and be able to mix personnel groupings to keep defenses off rather than just playing in one position grouping, which, when it came to Sean McVay, that's all we did."
Max Klare is stepping into a championship situation in LA. For how long, though?
Whitworth stressed that quarterback Matthew Stafford has as long as he wants to play and finish out his career in Los Angeles. Stafford could play beyond this year, which would be a best-case scenario for Klare and the rest of the Rams' skill-position threats.
As long as Stafford is under center, LA is a win-now situation. Former Alabama Crimson Tide quarterback Ty Simpson, taken the round before Klare with the No. 13 pick, may not necessarily be the heir apparent. Whitworth explained that the Simpson pick was more of a chess move, given the Myles Garrett trade that took place a few weeks later.
As long as Stafford is the guy, and Whitworth affirmed that he still very much is the guy in that organization, Klare will be on one of the league's preeminent Super Bowl favorites as a live-wire threat in the passing game. Not a bad place to be in the league.
Add us as a preferred source on Google