from 100 Bold Predictions for the 2024 NFL Season: https://www.si.com/nfl/nfl-predictions-2024-season-super-bowl-mvp-awards

 49. The Rams will win the NFC West

Sean McVay & Co. laid the foundation for a divisional run last year. With the 49ers reeling from a stinging overtime Super Bowl loss, the Rams can capitalize on a bit of vulnerability and ride their two-headed passing attack to a 12-win season and at least one win in the playoffs. The Rams believed last year and, I think, felt like they could do some serious damage if they’d gotten past the Lions in the wild-card round. Alas, this is a year for unfinished business and to show how quickly general manager Les Snead turned over a roster after going all in for Super Bowl LVI.

52. Kyren Williams will lead the NFL in rushing

After finishing in third place last year, the Rams’ third-year back will edge Christian McCaffrey, James Cook and Bijan Robinson, who will finish second, third and fourth, respectively. Williams will have 1,323 yards, on top of 11 rushing touchdowns and 64 accumulated first downs.

74. Joshua Karty will break the NFL’s rookie record for most points scored in a season

The Rams’ kicker, drafted in the sixth round out of Stanford, seems to have a hold on the gig, barring a disastrous summer or early fall. L.A. should also score a lot of points this year. Down goes Brandon Aubrey’s record of 157 points set last season. It’s a Karty Party all up in here.

from https://www.turfshowtimes.com/2024/6/18/24181243/rams-espn-offseason-rankings-draft-error-disrespect

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In an “offseason grades” article by ESPN’s Seth Walder, the Rams decision to trade up for Fiske at that cost was called “one of the largest and most obvious errors in the draft.”

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L.A. was given a B- grade, which doesn’t seem so bad if you’re just trying to get your final math credit to graduate college, but looks worse when you have to scroll almost all the way to the bottom of the article to find it. A B- put the Rams near the bottom-third of the order:

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The Rams spent free agency investing in veterans to improve their secondary (Williams and Tre’Davious White at cornerback and safety Kamren Curl) and the interior oftheir offensive line, as they brought in Jackson from the Lions and re-signed guard Kevin Dotson.

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These signings aren’t guaranteed wins — White is coming off an Achilles injury and the guards probably were overpriced. They bought high on Williams, who is coming off a season in which he allowed just 1.0 yards per coverage snap (average for an outside corner is 1.3), but they only guaranteed him $7 million. The message is clear. Despite losing Aaron Donald to retirement, the Rams are going for it again while they still can with quarterback Matthew Stafford. It makes sense.

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Between Stafford, coach Sean McVay and an excellent receiving duo of Cooper Kupp and Puka Nacua, the Rams can contend if things break right on defense and the offensive line. The Rams did make one of the largest and most obvious errors in the draft, trading a fifth-round pick and a future second-round pick just to move up from 52 to 39 and select Fiske.

from https://www.turfshowtimes.com/2024/6/18/24180268/rams-news-les-snead-offseason-dotson-verse
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Josh Edwards from CBS Sports lauded Snead for an “admirable” 2024 offseason as he ranked LA as having one of the 10 best offseasons. Edwards placed the Rams at No. 6 in his June 17 article:

“Los Angeles was not in the best financial spot entering the offseason and the retirement of future Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee Aaron Donald will be felt this season. However, the Donald decision was out of Los Angeles’ hands. The response of general manager Les Snead was admirable, though.

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It was savvy to continue fortifying the offensive line with the signing of bargain trade acquisition Kevin Dotson and the signing of offensive guard Jonah Jackson. To account for Donald’s departure, the Rams selected defensive linemen with their first two selections: Florida State edge rusher Jared Verse and Florida State defensive tackle Braden Fiske.”

roberto clemente@rclemente2121
rams 2023:

week 1-11
———–
record 4-6
offensive scoring #20
offensive tds per game #20
offensive yds per play #14
stafford qb rtg #26

week 12-17
————
record 6-1
offensive scoring #1
offensive tds per game #2
offensive yds per play #3
stafford qb rtg #3

McVay says that Young was green last year but this spring, it looks like he has come a long way. If that holds up, it’s a great development.

Zooey wrote:

I’m sure a HOF TE would make the Rams the #1 offense in the league, but they are gonna be Top 5 anyway, I would think. Meanwhile, you HAVE to get pressure on the opposing QB, or you lose football games too often.

‘

Ari Meirov@MySportsUpdate
The #Rams offered the #Jets No. 19 and No. 52 to move up to No. 10 during the NFL draft.

After the #Jets traded down one spot with the #Vikings, the #Rams got back on the phone with the Jets and offered their 1st, 2nd, and 3rd round picks to move up to No. 11, along with a 6th rounder.

The Jets still wouldn’t budge.

The Rams’ target was, in fact, Brock Bowers.

They cover the NFC West starting at 9:17 in and get to the Rams at 12:42 in.

Praise for Ryan Wendell.

It’s early but I am already considering comparing Wendell to Hudson Houck in terms of great Rams OL coaches. And the Rams have not lacked for good ones–Houck, Hanifan, Boudreau, Kromer. Houck was elite and the other 3 were all very good, in Hanifan’s case legendary good.

Wendell played center with the Patz under the great OL coach Dante Scarnecchia from 2008-2015 and then worked as an assistant OL coach in Buffalo with Aaron Kromer in 2022. So he has the pedigree. More importantly it already looks like it’s not just pedigree with him, he has the chops too.

Avila is likely a step up at center. It’s really a good thing that his transition to NFL center is being handled by Wendell–a former starting center and guard for the Patz who played in the playoffs under Scarnecchia for a few years and was voted a team captain in 2015 (though he missed that season w/ injuries). That last sentence was a bit long winded but you get the point.

Will the Rams lose Wendell to the Great NFL Coaching Raids of Rams Staff? Well they could but odds are against it. As a rule, OL coaches don’t get “raided.” Unless a team won’t pay the guy (which happened in 1991 with the great Hudson Houck, who the Rams just let walk after his contract ran out…he ended up being the coach who put together the great Dallas OLs in the 90s. Houck coached the Rams OL from 1983-91, and in that span had 5 different Rams OL go to a combined 21 Pro Bowls [Slater, Doug Smith, Hill, Harrah, & Newberry]).

As we know, to get raided you have to be promoted, and as a rule, OL coaches don’t end up being hired as either offensive coordinators or head coaches. So generally speaking, if you want to keep your OL coach around you just keep paying him. For example Scarnecchia coached the Patz OL from 1999 to 2019. Now and then an OL coach becomes a head coach, but it’s very rare (the 3 that come to mind are Chuck Knox, Jim Hanifan, and Bill Calahan, though I am likely forgetting 1 or 2 others). OL coaches are so specialized, I think it’s a case where the people who do the hiring don’t see their skills as translating “up.”

from https://theramswire.usatoday.com/lists/rams-otas-minicamp-takeaways-offseason-workouts/?taid=666ba438312d3b0001d9d28c&utm_campaign=trueanthem&utm_medium=trueanthem&utm_source=twitter

 If Higbee isn’t healthy for Week 1, Parkinson is someone to keep a close eye on because the Rams are excited about his potential after he was buried on the Seahawks’ depth chart for the last three years.

McVay said recently that Parkinson will add “real value” to the Rams offense this season and he’s impressed in practice already with his size and catch radius at 6-foot-7. He can be an impactful player right away this season if Higbee is out for the start of the season.

69RamFan

I say we have a top five OL.

In 2023, they changed their OL scheme from zone to power blocking, which it helped out the whole OL.  So, you give credit to Wendell and McVay for making the change.

At the start of the season, AJ beat out NB for the starting LT, which  put NB as the RG, then into 6th OL man role. I used to use Football Outsiders for OL stats, but it’s no longer available. Now I just view the tapes and I have my own type of judgements compared to these other football sites. I just reviewed the vids for the first 13 games in the condensed mode on the offensive side of the ball. By my count, AJ only gave up 1 sack, 1 QB hit, 11 pressures in those 13 games.

Out of those 11 pressures, eight passes were completed, to include those throws were 3TD, 1 incomplete, 1 a coverage sack, 1 INT, in 13 games. Those eight pressure that had a completed pass, I could say it doesn’t count as a pressure, IMO. To me, it’s like a running type QB who has escape from the pocket, the NFL doesn’t count that as a pressure unless he gets sacked.

But I’ll just put it as a pressure, and it’s still some great stats.

The RAMs RB average 28 carries in 17 games. The RAMs RB average over 8 runs to the left side between and outside of the LT/LG. Only 1 game running to AJ side that he gave up 1 TFL for 1 yd lost out of those first 13 games. Based on those numbers, I consider him being in the second or third tier from the top 5 LT. I would rate him anywhere between 6 to 15, strictly based off the numbers I calculated playing in the RAMs scheme, IMO.

We actually had two outstanding Guards that played off each other’s tackles. I felt last year, our weakest link on the OL was C/Shelton, he was serviceable, especially in the zone blocking scheme, but when it came to pass protection, against powerhouse DT/NT, he struggled. That’s where the most sacks came from, up the middle.  I feel that 2024 is going to be even better with Avila playing center. Hopefully AJ & JJ can have the same continuity that AJ had with Avila, in picking up switches, I think they will with JJ’s experience, so we shouldn’t see any downgrade on that.

What else helps the OL is Stafford, he has a great feel for the pocket and pressure, and has a quick release when needed. McVay, Stafford, Williams, Kupp, Nacua, Higbee, and the OL, all play for each other. This team is about WE and NOT ME.