👀 (via @NFLonPrime) pic.twitter.com/knJegDa92w

— Rams Tapes (@RamsTapes) July 6, 2023

pic.twitter.com/9mUNAaWZhA

— internet hall of fame (@InternetH0F) July 8, 2023

We’re on a mission to find the BEST player of the 21st century, not including QBs.

Vote on the #RamsHouse finalist in the comments! 🗳 pic.twitter.com/kcKQFgtFTC

— Sunday Night Football on NBC (@SNFonNBC) June 24, 2023

Eric Dickerson #Rams pic.twitter.com/YasTxH77uf

— Old Time Football 🏈 (@Ol_TimeFootball) July 10, 2023

Penalty stats from 2022 show the Rams were still one of the most disciplined teams in the NFL despite going 5-12 https://t.co/s5phCuOYgA

— Rams Wire (@TheRamsWire) July 11, 2023

…

[link above]

Joe Gibbs of Sharp Football Analysis ran the numbers on penalties from last season and the Rams graded out as one of the top teams. He gave Los Angeles an A- grade, pointing to a handful of notable stats.

First and foremost, the Rams committed the second-fewest penalties per game last year (4.47). That number was so low in part because the Rams averaged only 1.35 pre-snap penalties per game, which was the third-fewest in football. That’s particularly impressive considering how many different offensive line groups the Rams started throughout the year, constantly cycling through players because of injury.

It wasn’t just the offense that played sound football, either. The defense committed the fourth-fewest passing penalties in the NFL, helped by their lack of roughing the passer penalties; according to Gibbs, the Rams were one of just three teams that didn’t commit a single roughing the passer penalty in 2022.

The 2022 season was a complete 180 from their Super Bowl winning season in 2021. Injuries and lack of depth decimated their team. Throughout it all, they still managed to be one of the least penalized teams in the NFL. 

McVay teams are very detail-oriented, and even with a constant rotation of new personnel on this Rams team in 2022, that didn’t change.

from https://www.turfshowtimes.com/2023/7/12/23792522/rams-aaron-donald-trade-offer-draft-sammy-watkins

According to Brad Holmes, the current general manager of the Detroit Lions and a former area scout with the St. Louis and Los Angeles Rams who specifically helped tip the team off to the ultra-talented defensive tackle out of Pitt that year, there were a number of scenarios that nearly played out that day in 2014: The Rams could have had Watkins and Donald. They could have also had Robinson and a second bust, if they had accepted an “enticing” trade offer at 13th overall.

Unfortunately for the Rams, they picked Robinson. Fortunately for the Rams, they also picked Donald.

Holmes notes that he was nervous to give Donald too high of a grade because he knew that coaches were going to be skeptical of a defensive tackle who only weighed 285 lbs. But he relayed to Jeff Fisher and Les Snead the story of Donald anxiously waiting for practice a half-hour early and convinced the front office that he was a special prospect mostly because of his intangibles.

The Rams were convinced that Donald was the best pick for them too and then when Donald was available at pick 13, nothing would move Les and Jeff off of the pick. Holmes says the team got an enticing trade offer but “Jeff and Les were like absolutely not, we’re picking this guy.”

Holmes also notes that it was a close decision between picking Robinson over Watkins with the second overall pick, but that it was one of those things that came down to the “premium positions”, which Holmes puts in quotes.