TAKING STOCK: LOS ANGELES RAMS

BY ADAM GREENE

Before the echo of the final whistle fell silent on the Los Angeles Rams’ NFC Divisional Round playoff loss to the Green Bay Packers, the franchise was connected to every single potentially available quarterback on the planet except their own, Jared Goff.

To the surprise of no one, the Rams and Goff consciously uncoupled before the offseason even officially hit. As of this writing, the teams in question in the trade; the Rams and Detroit Lions, are unable to speak about it openly as to not violate league rules even though the trade is announced, the players involved have done interviews and all the details are currently known. The NFL can be weird.

QB wasn’t the only major change for the Rams for 2021-22 as they saw their coaching and organizational staff raided across the board, with nine front office personnel and coaches leaving to take higher ranking positions with other franchises. It speaks well of the culture and crew that general manger Les Snead and head coach Sean McVay have built in LA, but it’s a rough position to be in for a team that has to win right now. Like today.

In the Taking Stock series, we’re looking at each playoff team, going from worst to first, and outlining exactly what they must do to avoid being one of the five or so franchises who miss the postseason the year after making it.

LOS ANGELES RAMS

2020-21 Record: 10-6, NFC Wild Card

Playoffs: Defeated Seattle Seahawks 30-20 in the NFC Wild Card Round, Lost 32-18 to the Green Bay Packers in the NFC Divisional Round

2021-22 NFC Championship Odds: +600

Previously: Pittsburgh Steelers, Seattle Seahawks, Tennessee Titans, Indianapolis Colts, Chicago Bears, Washington Football Team

THE QUARTERBACK

Here we are, in the recurring segment that’s shown up in each of these articles for whatever reason. The Rams, feeling they’d topped out with what they could do with Jared Goff, decided to upgrade the position by sending Goff, two first round picks and a third to the Detroit Lions in exchange for Matthew Stafford.

You would be hard pressed to find anyone who doesn’t feel Stafford is an upgrade over Goff at QB. Last year with the Lions, Stafford completed 64.2 percent of his passes for 4,084 yards, 26 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. He did it without much help from his fellow Detroit players and the coaching staff, which is why he wanted to hit the ejector seat from the franchise. By my accounting, the Rams went from the 12/13^th best quarterback in the NFC to the 5/6^th. And that ranking has a lot to do with how much you like Matt Ryan. Of course, that’s all based on past performance and no one in all of NFL history would argue that Stafford has been given the tools or coaching to maximize that which he’s capable in the NFL. He has that now.

But that also means there’s no excuse for anything other than an elite QB year from the former No. 1 overall pick.

THE DEFENSE

LA’s defensive staff was absolutely decimated as soon as the offseason began, with no bigger loss than first and only year defensive coordinator Brandon Staley, who left to become head coach of the Los Angeles Chargers. Rams linebackers coach Joe Barry is now the Packers’ defensive coordinator and cornerback coach Aubrey Pleasant will coach the secondary for the Detroit Lions.

New defensive coordinator Raheem Morris comes with the McVay seal of approval, but considering he’s stepping in on a team that was the No. 1 defense in the NFL a year ago when he only got the Atlanta Falcons to No. 19, is a concern. With an improved offense, Los Angeles doesn’t need to have the best defense, but why not still try to keep it? They’ll bring back most of the key players (including two of the 10 best in the league in Aaron Donald and Jalen Ramsey), so any drop past, say, a fifth ranking, will be a huge disappointment.

THE OFFENSE

Like on defense, the Rams have lost a couple of key coaches to better jobs with other teams, or “team” as it were as their division rival the Seattle Seahawks hired their passing game coordinator Shane Waldron as their new offensive coordinator and stole assistant offensive line coach Andy Dickerson for run game coordinator.

There’s been plenty of Youtube tape dedicated to the advancement of the Rams’ offense with Stafford behind center, so I won’t dwell on that. What’s interesting to me is the improvement of the run game with Cam Akers and what it will mean for both Stafford and the Rams. With an elite running game and back that can catch the ball in 2017 and 2018, LA had one of the best offenses in the league and that was with Goff at QB. Akers isn’t Todd Gurley, but Stafford is also not Jared Goff. It’s going to be fun to watch and luckily the Rams kept offensive coordinator Kevin O’Connell (who they wouldn’t let any other team talk to) and QB coach Zac Robinson. The last two guys to hold those positions with the team are currently head coaches in Cincinnati and Green Bay.

FREE AGENCY

As of this writing the ink isn’t even dry on Leonard Floyd’s new contract with the Rams, keeping their best outside pass rusher in the mix. They’ve lost their star safety, John Johnson III to the Cleveland Browns (which was expected) and maybe their second best outside edge rusher, Samson Ebukam, landed with division rival San Francisco.

Outside of Floyd, no one on the team’s free agent list is a priority, though I’m sure they’d like to get cornerback Troy Hill back if the market is not to his liking. Tight end Gerald Everett and wide receiver Josh Reynolds will garner plenty of interest from other teams and don’t be surprised to see back up defensive lineman Morgan Fox land a starting job somewhere else too.

It’s possible guard Austin Blythe could return, but LA probably sees him as a last resort as he was the weakest of their starting five.

I figure Los Angeles will stay out of the free agent market now, especially after dropping some cash on Floyd, until after the draft, with the exception being an upgraded interior offensive lineman if they can afford it.

THE DRAFT

In what amounts to nothing new, LA has no first round pick this season. In fact, the Rams haven’t picked in the first round since McVay was hired in 2017. Los Angeles has one second round pick (No. 57), two third round picks (Nos. 101 and 103) thanks to compensatory selection and one fourth (No. 141). They traded away their fifth rounder to the Browns for Austin Corbett, but will have sixth and seventh rounders whenever the NFL announces them.

While LA is set at their starters pretty much across the board, they need depth and to try to steal a player in a late round as they’ve been known to do. My guess is, at 57, they’ll be looking at an offensive lineman like Texas’ Samuel Cosmi or Oklahoma’s Creed Humphrey. They need bodies and I can’t see them going WR or edge here unless someone insane falls into their laps.

NFC WEST

Like every team in the NFC West, the Rams must contend with three other playoff caliber teams. The Seahawks won the division last season, the Arizona Cardinals nearly made the postseason and the 49ers only didn’t because they were ravaged by injuries. Los Angeles is still probably the best team, but this is a crew that will beat each other up all season long.

2021-22 Projected Record: 12-4, NFC West Champions

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