Matthew Stafford to the Rams is shades of Kevin Garnett to the Celtics:

"He gets a culture upgrade and coach upgrade… Stafford has earned the right." — @ColinCowherd pic.twitter.com/GwLCR8pMeo

— Herd w/Colin Cowherd (@TheHerd) May 13, 2021

Matthew Stafford was asked what it’ll be like to face the Lions, who he spent 12 years with, for the first time this season https://t.co/uezASp3IdU

— Cameron DaSilva (@camdasilva) May 13, 2021

Looks like the British aren’t fucking around anymore. pic.twitter.com/QS4EkNaxBT

— Super 70s Sports (@Super70sSports) May 12, 2021

J.B. Long@JB_Long
No opponent catches a BYE before facing the Rams.
10 out of 17 opponents will be on the road the week before taking on LA.

Perfect bye (Week 11)
Early TNF (Week 5)
Only one true road back-to-back (kind, considering 9 away games this year)
All home games on Sundays at SoFi
Prime time vs all 3 NFC West opponents

Lots to like about this Rams schedule. Not much to pick at.

Andrew Siciliano@AndrewSiciliano
Rams open the season with 4 out of 5 against 2020 playoffs teams. The other game? Kyler Murray and the 8-win Cardinals.

7 biggest games on the Rams' 2021 schedule https://t.co/0bcGGHz1LU

— Rams Wire (@TheRamsWire) May 13, 2021

Deadpool

Jacob Harris – outside Simi Fehoko, there was no one in the draft like him. Size, speed athletic ability. They targeted him to improve STs immediately, with the thought that he is WR 6 or TE 4 and maybe develop him into a Galladay or Megatron lite or even Waller lite. If he never develops into that, he at the worst is a ST demon with some redzone upside. At best, he is a massive mismatch in the red zone and 50 50 balls down the field. Raw, but so much athletic ability he is worth the pick.

He is also a change if wr drafting philosophy of valuing route running, excellent hands and being a polished wr like Kupp and Jefferson. He’s more along the lines of Reynolds with so much more upside.

Rams confident in line, go all-in on adding explosive playmakers to offense

Lindsey Thiry

https://www.espn.com/blog/los-angeles-rams/post/_/id/42680/which-los-angeles-rams-draftees-are-most-likely-to-make-immediate-impact

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. — Improving coach Sean McVay’s offense has been among the Los Angeles Rams’ top offseason goals.

That became apparent when the Rams completed a blockbuster trade two weeks after a divisional playoff loss to the Green Bay Packers. Quarterback Jared Goff, two first-round picks and a fourth-round pick were shipped to Detroit in exchange for Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford.

Then in free agency, the Rams signed veteran receiver DeSean Jackson to a one-year, $4.5 million deal, reuniting McVay with one of his top weapons when he served as offensive coordinator in Washington.

And finally, with their first pick in the NFL draft, the Rams selected speedy Louisville receiver Tutu Atwell in the second round.

Now the question looms: Did the Rams do enough to stop the consecutive season decline of their offense and jolt it back to the top of the NFL as they make a push to appear in Super Bowl LVI at SoFi Stadium next February?

“There’s no reason that we don’t have very realistic expectations about being a lot better,” said McVay, who is entering his fifth season as coach. “I expect us to be much better and I expect this to be one of the better ones in the league.”

The Rams return eight of 11 starters from an offense that ranked 22nd in efficiency and provided inconsistent support to their top-ranked defense throughout a 10-6 season.

Receivers Robert Woods and Cooper Kupp, tight end Tyler Higbee and running back Cam Akers are among the key returners. Receiver Van Jefferson could play an increased role after he flashed during training camp as a rookie, but saw limited game action.

Goff, receiver Josh Reynolds and center Austin Blythe are the starters who have departed.

Despite losing Blythe to the Kansas City Chiefs in free agency, the Rams did not address the position in the draft. McVay said Brian Allen, Coleman Shelton or Austin Corbett could fill the role.

A fourth-year pro, Allen started nine games in 2019 before suffering a season-ending knee injury. Shelton has no NFL experience at the position and Corbett’s pro experience at center is limited to the preseason, though he has started 23 games over the last two seasons at guard.

The Rams also did not add any offensive lineman via free agency or the draft despite only adding one linemen in 2019 and with three — Allen, Corbett and tackle Joe Noteboom — set to become unrestricted free agents after the season.

“We’ve got 11 guys who’ve played games that we won,” Rams general manager Les Snead said about the line. “That’s probably as deep a group that’s played as I’ve ever been a part of. So, give those guys credit and they’ve done a heck of a job.”

With the Rams intent on contending for a division title and making a deep playoff run, the positions that came into focus were those that could infuse explosive plays to an offense that fell stagnant a year ago and was considered the Achilles’ heel of a team otherwise poised to make a Super Bowl run.

“We definitely expect to be more explosive,” McVay said, adding “you’ve got to give guys an opportunity to create big plays in a variety of ways.”

Without a true deep-threat receiver last season, the Rams ranked 18th in yards per play (5.54), 21st in passing yards per attempt (7.09) and 26th in passing attempts that were 20 yards more down field (9% of attempts).

With Stafford, McVay is expected to open the playbook and restore an offense that was among the league’s most explosive in 2017 and 2018.

‘There was definitely an intentional approach and process to being able to add a quarterback of Matthew Stafford’s caliber and then surround him with the right pieces,” McVay said about the team’s offseason moves.

Last season in Detroit, Stafford averaged 7.55 yards per attempt (ranked 12th) and 11.7% of his passes were attempts of 20 yards or more downfield (10th).

McVay is expected to call plays that cater to Stafford’s arm strength.

“Sean does a great job of seeing who he has available, who can make plays and getting those guys to football as much as possible,” Stafford said in March. “I feel comfortable with where he’s at, where he is as a playcaller and then making sure he’s going to get us into some great plays.”

After the Rams’ offense shrunk to short and intermediate passes last season, the addition of Jackson and Atwell is expected to create more deep-threat opportunities and create more room in the middle of the field for Woods and Kupp, who each saw their production fall last season after reaching 1,000 receiving yards each in 2019.

“We were able to add guys that bring an elite trade in terms of the ability to stretch the top shelf of the defense,” McVay said. “That’s not exclusive to the ways that you can utilize these guys, but we do want to become a more explosive offense.”

Jackson has recorded the most 60-plus-yard touchdowns (24) in NFL history and ranks sixth all-time in yard per reception (17.4). Though the 34-year-old has dealt with injuries the past two seasons, Jackson expressed confidence he’s on the mend and can remain healthy in his 14th NFL season.

“I’m feeling great, I’m feeling that I’m 100% healthy,” Jackson said in March. “The rehab process has been going very well.”

If Jackson’s injury bug continues, the Rams have an insurance policy in Atwell, who was the No. 57 overall selection and who McVay says possesses some similarities to his more seasoned counterpart.

“He really does an excellent job of tracking the ball effortlessly down the field,” McVay said about Atwell. “I like everything that he stands for, the explosiveness, play-making ability.”

With a mostly virtual offseason, the Rams new-look offense is expected to start taking shape on the field during mandatory minicamp July 15-17.

These Guys with a big truck and big heart use the lift gate to help a senior get into her car without getting her feet wet

humanity ❤️ pic.twitter.com/AwHuloVYr1

— Madeyousmile (@Thund3rB0lt) May 11, 2021

Jourdan Rodrigue@JourdanRodrigue
Overall, they don’t seem to spend on center or guard. They seem to spend mid-tier money at RT and invest in LT (if that LT is an elite player). I’m certainly concerned about their long-term plans there after 2022. They did, however, like some guys in this draft class and whether the board just didn’t fall their way or they de-prioritized the long-term future in favor of short-term help on special teams and on o/d (with their first two picks), depends on who you ask. I’m skeptical about the position changes on the OL, if you couldn’t tell lol. Here’s my (educated) pencil-in at the moment, from left to right: Whitworth, Edwards, Corbett, Evans, Havenstein. Depth: Noteboom, Anchrum, Allen/Shelton/Me in a hamster bubble, Anchrum/Demby, Brewer.

Do you think the Rams will sign perhaps Austin Reiter to an one year deal?

Jourdan Rodrigue@JourdanRodrigue
here’s the thing with Reiter: The Chiefs let him walk in favor of Austin Blythe, who the Rams only offered slightly more money to in free agency. They could still bring somebody in, but I’d assume they’d have to see a looming fiasco on their OL if so.

What gave the Rams front office confidence that Atwell can succeed despite his size?

Jourdan Rodrigue@JourdanRodrigue
We haven’t really gotten a straight answer on that specific question, so here’s my parsing of info/tidbits I’ve gotten since the draft: He keeps his lower body really controlled so there aren’t any bad hit angles upon contact, he won’t be schemed through traffic in the ways that Kupp and Woods are (instead there are ways to protect a WR off the line), they’re not going to try to run him against a bunch of press-man or anything like that, they will use him a ton on pre and at-snap motions and sweeps plus work him into space via bunch formations and the like where other receivers are working the more physical stuff (like we’ve seen from Woods for years, for example). I see Atwell in a ton of sweeps/motions packages, and a “bunch” of bunch formations. The thing here is you know you shouldn’t be using him in the physical things like Woods/Kupp can do, so you’ll probably keep him out of the middle of the field. The idea is those two concepts work in complement: Accounting for Tutu takes extra coverage/traffic off Woods/Kupp in the middle of the field while Woods/Kupp working that space helps scheme open Tutu.

I do think that Stafford can activate eligible receivers very, very well – and in bulk. But we also have to take scheme and system into consideration – the Rams will not be able to just send Tutu downfield and instead must build pieces into their offense to help him succeed (not a bad thing – you’re supposed to do that with that kind of speed). I also was thinking about how curious it is to not hear a lot of discussion about the concussions Cooks had when he was here. I was on the other side of the country at the time, so maybe that’s a part of why. But it might be something to go back and re-visit. How did their plans for him change when he started missing time, for example? How was he really affected, from any symptoms to the setback of missing practices and games? I’m not making any assumptions here, but seems like these would be valid questions.

In the short term, the Rams do a lot of things with their route concepts that protect the non-blocking receiver, such as bunch formations, sweeps, etc….I see a lot of that in Tutu’s future, plus a little added bulk as the years pass once he’s in with Reggie Scott and Justin Lovett.

defense–they need to replace production from Hill, Brockers, Ebukam, and JJ.

Jourdan Rodrigue@JourdanRodrigue
Sebastian Joseph-Day is really going to be a player to watch this year, from what I hear, and we didn’t get to see what A’Shawn Robinson could really do. They may ask Bobby Brown and Earnest Brown to play a situational role earlier than expected…I still am concerned about the OLB rotation opposite Leonard Floyd and it certainly seems like it’ll be a rotation.