Rams analysis: What we know, what we don’t after OTAs
The team’s offseason roster moves have added options and left coaches with a lot of decisions to make between now and the season opener.
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Rams analysis: What we know, what we don’t after OTAs
Offseason team workouts made their post-pandemic return this year just in time for the Rams, whose many new players and coaches needed the bonding exercise of in-person chalk talk and on-field practice sessions.The three weeks of organized team activities (OTAs) and mandatory minicamp that ended Thursday answered some questions about the Rams but left a lot to be settled at training camp, opening at UC Irvine in late July.
Three months out from the regular-season opener on Sunday night, Sept. 12, against the Chicago Bears at SoFi Stadium, here’s a look at what we know about the Rams and what we still have to find out about.
WHAT WE KNOW AFTER OTAs
The QB is OK
It’s early, but it looks as if the Rams made a winning gamble in replacing NFC championship-winning Jared Goff, 26, with oh-for-the-playoffs Matthew Stafford, 33.
Stafford has impressed teammates and the team staff on and off the practice field.
“I’m just going to try to be myself,” Stafford said.
A clever trick, and it seems to be working.
Expectations are sky-high
Or translucent canopy-high, since the Super Bowl LVI next February will be played at SoFi Stadium.
Coach Sean McVay has done nothing to dampen expectations for Stafford and the Rams as odds against them winning the Super Bowl this season have shortened to 12-1 (among the top four or five teams).
“I think you embrace them,” McVay said Thursday, quickly adding that living up to them is an every-day challenge.
Option plays
This offseason cost the Rams some stars, mostly on defense, but overall trades, signings, the draft and experimentation in spring workouts have given the Rams more options at key positions.
McVay talked up the possibility of raising Cam Akers’ profile in the passing game by moving the running back to wideout and slot positions sometimes. The coach was effusive in praising Van Jefferson, the second-year wide receiver, and Jacob Harris, the fourth-round pick who played wide receiver at Central Florida but might back up Tyler Higbee at tight end. The question of who will replace Austin Blythe at center seems to be Austin Corbett, moving over from right guard, where he’d be replaced by Bobby Evans; but the Rams’ perpetual cross-training on the offensive line could mean more surprises.
The Rams see improvement from David Long, who could replace Troy Hill outside or inside in the cornerback group with Jalen Ramsey and Darious Williams. McVay said of Long: “He is a guy that we’re going to count on.”
Health will be an issue
That’s true for every team as the schedule expands from 16 to 17 games.
But the Rams must monitor wide receiver Cooper Kupp, who admitted this month that his January knee problem was worse than the reported bursitis, and older players such as wide receiver DeSean Jackson and left tackle Andrew Whitworth, and figure out how to keep Akers healthier than last year.
WHAT WE HAVE TO FIND OUT
Do they have enough footballs?
Adding Stafford and Jackson and drafting Tutu Atwell promises a more explosive Rams offense, but what will the new passing game look like?
How will Stafford and McVay make use of all those receivers? How often will they follow through on the threat of throwing deep to Jackson or Tutu Atwell? Will Jefferson’s touches grow? Will Kupp’s and Robert Woods’ decline? What changes for Higbee? What is Akers’ pass-catching role?
Real answers will have to wait until the regular season begins, because McVay said he again doesn’t plan to play his starters in preseason games.
Who’s special?
In trying to revive a unit that fell a long way since the Rams’ 2018 Super Bowl run, new special teams coordinator Joe DeCamillis must choose a punt returner.
Possibilities include incumbent Nsimba Webster, Atwell, running back Raymond Calais, and undrafted receivers J.J. Koski, Trishton Jackson, Landen Akers and Jeremiah Haydel.
On the other end of fourth downs, punter Johnny Hekker said he approached OTAs as a competition with former Buffalo Bill Corey Bojorquez. It would still be a shock if the Rams moved on from Hekker, a four-time All-Pro. But maybe not a surprise, given what they could save without the biggest contract in puntdom.
Who leads?
Aaron Donald and Ramsey lead the defense by example, but there was a void in vocal leadership after safety and defensive signal-caller John Johnson signed with the Cleveland Browns and defensive lineman Michael Brockers was traded to the Detroit Lions.
“I think every safety on the team kind of has to take on that role of being a great communicator, in the back end and (for) the whole defense,” third-year safety Taylor Rapp said.
That will be an intangible factor in whether the Rams’ defense stays at or near the top of the league.
Who’s THAT?
At least 10 Rams have changed uniform numbers since the NFL expanded the position groups that could wear single digits. One day in minicamp, Ramsey was wearing No. 5 while listed as 20 on the roster given to reporters. And Akers switched back to 23 after speaking emotionally about why he was changing to his boyhood 3.
By Week 1, numbers will be official, and we’ll be able to tell the players with a scorecard.
