I don’t know if this belongs here, either. Is this devoted to news, or is analysis welcome? If this belongs in a different thread, then by all means, move it.

The marvelous Jourdan Rodrigue on off-season priorities.

Five Rams’ offseason priorities — OL investment, tough conversations — and one big question

By Jourdan Rodrigue
Jan 23, 2024

The Rams are currently in the after-action review of a 2023 season during which they overachieved relative to the experience level of their roster, and outside expectations.

Ten wins, a narrow wild-card loss, an offense that got back into the top 10 in the NFL and the emergence of a strong rookie class — not bad, right?

They did it by going back to some of their fundamentals as coaches and executives. General manager Les Snead preached discipline from last offseason into the trade deadline, where the Rams had previously spent big capital (money and draft picks), and his scouting and personnel departments were patient and intentional about the players they selected in the draft and veteran free agency.

The 2024 season, it seems, is set up to reward them for that discipline. They will have around $40 million in workable cap space (estimations vary up until the new league year) and will wipe most of their dead money off the books. They’ll have their first-round pick and a full slate underneath it. Some of their top players are heading into only the second or third years on their initial contracts. But success is not a given. How can the Rams avoid regression in 2024?

“From this point forward, a lot of messaging will be, ‘OK, you got to this point and you’ll just move forward next year,’” Snead said. “What we do know is, we can reason that next year is gonna be different. We’ll be a different team. We’re not gonna be able to just show up and hop back on the train and be in rhythm. That took a lot of work. And I think the thing that we can do — what you can apply from this year — is, last year we really said ‘let’s come in every day and try to do something every day so that the collective can play quality football.’ We never talked about having more points than the other team, just quality football.

“The lesson would be not to come in and think, ‘OK, now this is what we do, and now we’ll have 11 wins over 10 (wins).’”

Setting the table in the offseason is all-important. Here are five priorities:

1. Continued investment in the offensive line 

The moves the Rams made along their offensive line in the draft and via trade — plus a scheme change in their run game — paid dividends. Rookie Steve Avila will start for them at left guard for a long time. Left tackle Alaric Jackson, an undrafted free agent, got better as the season progressed. Coleman Shelton was consistently solid at center. Right guard Kevin Dotson, whom the Rams traded for in August, was one of the top guards in the NFL in 2023 and paired very well with Avila. Right tackle Rob Havenstein is still the veteran and captain of the group. They also invested in a four-person coaching staff, from position coach Ryan Wendell to assistants Zak Kromer and Nick Jones, and consultant Mike Munchak.

Jackson is a restricted free agent, so subject to a tender. Shelton is an unrestricted free agent, as is Dotson. Snead indicated that at least trying to re-sign Dotson is a goal of the Rams this spring, but he will have a competitive market.

“I would bet that he’ll definitely have a marketplace, for sure, people are gonna want him to come play football for them — we’re one of those teams,” said Snead, adding that the process could take some time. “… But I can say, too, agents will call (and) we’ll start engineering and designing kind of a blueprint, more of a timeline of communication so that each step of the way they know where we stand.”

The Rams may need a right guard, or a center, or both. Even if they are able to keep Dotson, continuing to add for the future along the offensive line is important and should be a priority for a team that learned the hard way in 2022 what could happen if multiple linemen got hurt at once.

It’s important to remember that just because the Rams have resources again, it doesn’t mean they will burn through them all or over-extend their long-term financial plans in the case of a competitive contract discussion. Both Snead and coach Sean McVay have reiterated this point through the start of the offseason. Don’t be surprised if the Rams aren’t splashy in the early days and weeks of free agency.

2. Re-invest resources into 2 premier positions and 1 ‘abnormal’ position

The Rams historically have viewed a couple of positions as “premier,” meaning they are comfortable putting a lot of financial resources and/or draft capital there whether the player was developed in-house or acquired in a trade: outside linebacker/pass rush, quarterback, cornerback and, in very rare cases, receiver (Cooper Kupp, who was also a homegrown player).

In 2023, they stayed young and/or financially disciplined at those spots, particularly pass rusher and cornerback. Rookie Byron Young emerged as a starting outside linebacker with a bright future. Elsewhere, there are clear holes to fill. The Rams badly need another pass rusher on the outside and this year could afford to go the “veteran at the end of first contract/free agent” route for the right player. It could be argued that they need two cornerbacks, too. They have had success with a “pay one, draft and develop the other” strategy with their outside corners.

One position outside their typical team-building model that could merit a rare contract extension is inside linebacker. Ernest Jones has emerged as a team captain and core leader of the defense. Jones is entering the final year of his contract.

“Obviously he’s someone who is a very important part of that defense for many reasons, definitely the leader of the defense,” Snead said of the 2021 third-round draft pick. “In the past, obviously we’ve been invested in some other positions. But I think as we evolve, and as teams evolve, there are times where you may be less invested at a certain position than you were in the past and one of your better players is an inside linebacker. So, he’s definitely someone we’ll discuss and definitely someone we’d like to have around.”

3. Have the hard conversation about future at offensive skill positions 

The Rams got great production from their three offensive skill spots in 2023 from a combination of veterans and young players (even if one, tight end, was more blocking-centric in a re-invented run scheme). Still, significant injuries at running back, receiver and tight end should give reason to deeply evaluate all of those positions, and continue to invest in them.

At running back, second-team All Pro Kyren Williams missed four games to an ankle injury. Williams was a legitimate star for the Rams in 2023, should be again in 2024 and his presence on the field made a huge difference in their overall production:

zn wrote:

Try an historical one. Ask about the Faulk trade or something like that.

Okay, I will. I will fart around with this, but I don’t have a timeline for this project. When I read the line, “My knowledge is up to date only until January 2022,” I smelled bullshit. I’ll go back and ask, but I don’t think it could say anything intelligent about the OL scheme prior to Jan 2022, either. Sometimes AI just plain old makes shit up.

In my first encounter, I fed it a prompt that I thought it simply couldn’t do, and it did okay with it, but it completely lied about the word count of the essay. Other people have reported that it has invented sources when required to provide them. So…it doesn’t appear to be above “making shit up.”

I will play more with it later.

zn wrote:

Baltimore slaughtered both teams in the regular season. Ravens over Lions at home, 38-6. Ravens over 9ers on the road, 33-19. Not predicting anything, just pointing out how the story looks so far.

Welp, my final act in Las Vegas was to put a hundred bucks on the Ravens at +300.

zn wrote:

You know what might be fun in this thread to add to the discussion? Ask AI a question about the Rams that all of us know is nuanced and important, and then post what AI says. A question like how did Kyren Williams help the Rams improve their game in the second half of the season. People in the thread would see from such a post that no actual person would ever write that way.

I’m on board. Start a thread, and I will contribute to it after I think about this for a few minutes.

nittany ram wrote:

wv wrote:

Ah well. SF pulls it out. They dont look unbeatable anymore though, do they. w v

Which only makes the Rams’ loss to the Lions more frustrating. The NFC is ripe for the taking.

Yeah, the Rams should be in Tampa today, and then preparing to host the Packers in the title game. The blabbers would have liked to talk about the 6 seed hosting the 7 for the NFC championship.

Okay, I just watched that video on Normal Voices, and you know how youtube always prompts you to watch more videos after the one you are watching is over? Mine is usually populated with NFL videos and stuff about Fallacy and Socrates and so on.

Today…it’s all about stripper stories, and “how to” hire escorts and not get scammed by prostitutes and stuff. All sex industry videos.

I don’t use youtube much in the classroom, but I do occasionally. It’s embarrassing enough that NFL videos show up, but I can’t show a video and have this crap come on the screen.

Weird that youtube not only knows where I’ve been, but makes assumptions about why I was there. Also interesting it didn’t make a correlation between my obvious interest in football and the fact that Las Vegas is a gambling city. It just changed the subject to naughty sex stuff.

zn wrote:

If you read nothing else on this page, be sure and read the big article I just posted (1/15 6 PM et) in this thread: tweets & reporters & the big articles

Sorry. I was in Las Vegas. Just got back. Did anything important happen while I was gone?

canadaram wrote:

Moving forward I am excited to see upgrades in the secondary. It would also be nice to see Hoecht and Jonah Williams replaced. Another threat at wide receiver might be needed if Kupp has some sort of long term injury. Fun season.

I can’t help but wonder how that game would have gone if the Rams had Ramsey.

Hoecht improved in pass rush over the year, and hustled after plays, but seemed a liability in coverage. That’s all “live” opinion, as in, I haven’t watched any film on him. Just fast and furious live action where I’m watching the whole thing, not focused on any particular player.

The Lions “out-physicaled” the Rams. The

through tackles throughout the entire first half, busted up Stafford, Nacua, Williams, and Higbee. Just beat them up.

The Rams won the 2nd half, but fell short.

Zero turnovers.

Bummer. That was a winnable game, but that’s the end of it.

Puka Nacua.  Good lord. I’d like to think, “Just wait until next year,” but I don’t see how he can improve on his game. Like… how?

Hopefully Kupp comes back full strength.

nittany ram wrote:

Only to find out he’s a degenerate gambler.

Okay, degenerate maybe.

But not a gambler.

Kyren Williams is going to score a TD today.

And just to make you guys super jealous…here’s the view outside my hotel window.

Well, since I arrived in Las Vegas yesterday morning, I am going to have to put some money where my mouth is. My wife is encouraging me to. She grew up in a family that would take a run up to Reno once or twice a year to play in some damn tournament, or other, and she has fond memories of taking buckets of her grandma’s nickles and dimes up to the cashier. I hate giving money away for nothing, so my usual approach is to take twenty bucks, and see if I can get 20 minutes or so out of it, and then walk away.

But McVay’s first year… I KNEW the Rams were better than anybody thought. So I bet something on them and won, and my wife thinks I can just – you know – do that any time I feel like it.

So the odds on Kyren Williams scoring a TD this game is, like, +140. And since the Lions don’t have a great defense, and the Rams offense is rolling, and Williams is the straw, I think that’s the money-maker for me.

And I’m also going to take the 3 points, and probably give the money right back, but…maybe not. Maybe the Rams’ll win, and I will be rolling in dough by winning both bets.

Turnovers. I think that’s going to be more important than Maher. If the Rams are + in turnovers, they win. It’s not their forte this year, unfortunately. But Goff can do it. I know he can. He can throw nutty INTs, and he can drop the ball. I’ve seen it with my own eyes.

Who is this drunk guy?

zn wrote:

It’s not that the Rams don’t use play-action concepts anymore; there just has been a deemphasis on using them.

One of the knocks on Stafford when the Rams acquired him was that he didn’t like play action.

Maybe he knows what he is doing.

zn wrote:

Jourdan Rodrigue@JourdanRodrigue Rams RB Kyren Williams had a good comment on position coach Ron Gould in his first year in the role in the NFL: “He cares a lot about his players … He gives as much to all of us as he does individually to us. He allows me to slow myself down and understand the game that is actually in front of me. … When he got here, he sat me down and (taught) me the game of football. His motto is, ‘understanding leads to control.’ If you understand what you’re doing, you can control the situation depending on you.”

This ties in with the description of McVay’s revamping of the coaching staff. He deliberately hired guys with a positive attitude and an ability to teach. Looks like some of the staff weren’t helping with the culture. Maybe he got rid of some dicks.

Looks like everyone is having fun now.

I wonder what the odds in Vegas are that this will be a forgettable game.

Seasons and games come and go, and some of them leave an indelible, Instant Recall impression, and the others mush together like a couple of donuts left on a summertime dashboard.

I think I will have instant recall of this season and of this playoff game 10 years from now.