The Rams are an adventure every offseason. If I’m translating Les Snead correctly, this one will be no different: https://t.co/zh8gEP0CON

— Jourdan Rodrigue (@JourdanRodrigue) January 20, 2023

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Rams GM Les Snead: ‘All things are in play’ this offseason, more takeaways

Rams general manager Les Snead spoke with Los Angeles reporters for the first time since the team’s disastrous 5-12 season ended — and since head coach Sean McVay, with whom Snead is partnered with contractually through 2026, decided to return in 2023.

“These conversations have gone on (even before) last season,” said Snead of McVay’s fast-paced last eight years in which he went from position coach and coordinator to Rams head coach, appeared in two Super Bowls and won one. “I’ve often said … the guy has been basically running an 800-meter sprint every week since he got our job, and probably had been running an 800-meter sprint as an offensive coordinator for the two previous seasons in Washington.

“Over time, like at some point a hamstring is gonna get tight, a hamstring is gonna get pulled. And you’re not gonna be able to do it.”

Snead spoke candidly — or, as candidly as he could, with some facets of what he referred to as a “remodel” for the team still in planning and discussion phases — about the Rams’ future on Thursday. Here are my major takeaways:

‘All things are in play’ — including potential movement of star players

The Rams contractually aligned many of their star players (along with Snead and McVay) last offseason: Cooper Kupp, Matthew Stafford, Aaron Donald and Rob Havenstein. To that “core” they added inside linebacker Bobby Wagner and attached all of the former contracts to the same or similar time parameters as Jalen Ramsey’s deal, which has remained untouched. The big question facing the team this offseason: Can the Rams keep everybody together? Do they want to?

Stafford has publicly committed to the Rams in 2023 and, a person with knowledge of the matter said, has passed his exit physical en route to a contract option pickup in the coming season. Donald, who caused Twitter to briefly erupt in flames Sunday with an error in his bio that described him as a “former” Rams defensive lineman, since fixed that phrasing and also (in a rare move) posted that he was playing in 2023. Both players would owe the organization tens of millions of dollars if they retired now, and both players have previously expressed their commitment to McVay. Because Ramsey’s contract hasn’t been re-done, he will almost certainly draw inquiries from other teams. All of these core players are also team captains.

Snead said that the Rams have not formally sat down yet with players, and that the conversations (including with their “stars”) will happen over the next few weeks.

“It’s that time of year to put some blueprints on paper, figure out what is next and those types of conversations will definitely be coming,” he said. McVay sits down with individual players to discuss their present and future plans, said Snead, and if the player has more questions Snead and chief operating officer Kevin Demoff get involved.

But Snead was not committal either way about retaining the totality of that core when I asked him directly about it.

“That’s what we’ve got to figure out over the next few weeks, few months,” he said. “Not going to get into the specifics of each of those players, because every year since we’ve been here there have been moments where we’ve had to say goodbye to key contributors, players that were very impactful and helped the Rams be successful.

“Sometimes, there’s a positive to that. There have been players that have been on their rookie contracts and they’ve moved on (to) greener pastures in terms of finances or financial stability. There have been moments where, based on the cap system and what we’ve done, we’ve had to be intentional about trading different players and saying those goodbyes. That’s the toughest part of the business. … This is not the time and place to communicate either good or bad news, per se.”

Rams expect double-digit draft picks

Once the compensatory formula is factored in, Snead said that the Rams believe they’ll have 10 draft picks this spring. Obviously, these are in the second round and later.

“I always think you want to use (picks) as capital in more ways than one,” Snead said. “What we’ve been able to do — if our starting lineups were very competent, as a collective, we’ve been able to use those later-round picks, Day 3 picks, as relatively competent depth players (who) could come in and partner with those starters when necessary.”

About that offensive line …

The Rams barely saw what their starting offensive line could have looked like through a full season, because of a catastrophic (and nearly historic) streak of injuries that forced them into three, four and even five deep at every position except right tackle. Still, some young players emerged with the potential to take on bigger roles: Alaric Jackson played well at right guard and then stood out for the positive at left tackle, while Coleman Shelton seems to have found a home at center if not at guard.

Changes for this group are inevitable but I don’t expect a major position-by-position overhaul, in part because the Rams liked what they saw from young depth players and in part because of others’ healing from injury. Snead indicated that the team is in no way firmly set on a specific path here just yet — and it’s likely that a new offensive line coach will have significant say in evaluations.

“There are gonna be a certain number of players that come back, and they’re on their rookie contracts,” Snead said. “There would be no reason to move on from those players. There may be chances to add players from the draft, things like that, from the outside. At that point, you get people healthy, you assess along the way. Collectively, try to play better as a unit. Sometimes that’s an individual change, sometimes that’s the collective getting wiser, more experienced, evolving.”

Rams overhaul coaching staff with 8 departures

Snead, Rams don’t believe they’re in a ‘rebuild’

Snead was pretty intentional about using the word “remodel” on Thursday, and objectively speaking, if the team can keep its core of veterans together for maybe one last ride, a full-scale rebuild probably wouldn’t be in the immediate plans.

“I would think, with the way our roster is made up right now, it would be tough to say a ‘rebuild,’” Snead said. “We’d almost have to somewhat tear it down to rebuild, because we do have a lot of really good players in their prime on this roster. … A lot of times, when you’re successful and winning more games than losing, there’s an element of ‘OK, that’s a window, maybe, to press the gas.’”

That Snead also reiterated through the course of the call a key component of their team-building philosophy — drafting players who complement their star core and so can play bigger roles on cheap rookie deals — also was telling that the Rams aren’t ready to blow this thing up quite yet. Still, the discussions they will have about and with those core players will also define what they can and cannot do within the parameters of their ecosystem this spring.

“Every year is different, every year there is an element of a remodel, tweaks,” Snead said. “We’re very well aware that some of our core players are in their primes, and getting closer to twilight of their primes. But that does not mean, when you’re a player like that in your prime, that you’re not still very productive (and) successful in this league. So, we’ll have that balance of trying to navigate those waters — still be very competitive in the micro and then also realizing from the macro standpoint there is going to be an element where we’re probably going to have to … not press the gas as much, pay a little bit of the debt that we’ve accumulated. … But we’ve been able to be competitive (while) paying some of that.”