- Joined
- Aug 18, 2019
- Messages
- 1,047
Rebuilding? Reloading? Rams at a crossroads entering the 2020 season
The Rams had to make some tough decisions this offseason but don't plan on conceding the 2020 season in order to prepare for the future.
www.espn.com
THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. -- Sean McVay stared into the camera as he spoke during yet another offseason Zoom meeting, this session with a small group of reporters.
McVay's eyes grew wide as his voice deepened into a stringent tone.
Winning this season is the Los Angeles Rams' priority.
They are not in a rebuilding phase, despite being down 12 starters from their Super Bowl run two seasons ago. And despite a decision to incur more than $30 million in dead money -- about 15% of their salary cap -- to move on from running back Todd Gurley II and receiver Brandin Cooks, the Rams aren't punting to 2021, when they'll get some salary-cap relief.
Rebuilding isn't even a word that McVay wants to utter.
"I would never refer to it as that," said McVay, who, at 34 years old, remains the youngest head coach in the NFL as he enters his fourth season. "I think that's making excuses and running away from the expectations we have, which we'll never do.
"We expect to win. We expect to prepare to win."
In a staunch NFC West that includes the defending conference champion San Francisco 49ers, the Rams must rebound from a 9-7 season in which they finished third in the division and failed to make the playoffs. They must win without the star-packed roster -- which once included Ndamukong Suh, Marcus Peters and Aqib Talib -- that they've grown accustomed to over the past three seasons and quickly adapt to a coaching staff that includes three new coordinators.
McVay didn't retain veteran coordinator Wade Phillips despite a defense that ranked ninth in defense-adjusted value over average last season, instead hiring first-time coordinator Brandon Staley. Special teams coordinator John Fassel departed for the Dallas Cowboys and kicker Greg Zuerlein followed. John Bonamego replaced Fassel. McVay hired Kevin O'Connell as offensive coordinator, filling a role that sat vacant the past two seasons.
After two years of blockbuster trades -- though often at the expense of future draft picks -- and star free-agent acquisitions, the roster underwent more of a make-under this offseason.
"You always want to go into every year and try to be slightly better than you were the last year," Rams general manager Les Snead said when asked if the roster improved from 2019. "It's going to be different. There's going to be times when some positions have less experience, some don't and you're always having to navigate all of that."
The Rams still boast two-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year Aaron Donald and star cornerback Jalen Ramsey, who was acquired last October when the Rams sent two first-round picks to Jacksonville. Quarterback Jared Goff enters his fifth season and 1,000-yard receivers Robert Woods and Cooper Kupp return at his disposal.
But Donald and Goff are operating on record-breaking extensions that have absorbed more than a quarter of the Rams' salary cap, and, as he enters the final season of his rookie deal, Ramsey is expected to sign his own record-breaking contract.
With a little more than $4 million now remaining in cap space, it grew increasingly apparent this offseason that the Rams couldn't keep all of their talent, and that replacements must come mostly in the form of mid-round draft picks.
"If you look at our team, we drafted a lot of young players who ultimately, in a salary-cap era when you have stars who have been paid, are going to have to step up," said Kevin Demoff, the Rams' chief operating officer.
Disassembling the nucleus of a team is common after a quarterback transitions from his rookie contract to a long-term extension, according to ESPN NFL front office insider Mike Tannenbaum. But it creates a challenge in sustaining success.
In the Rams' case, long-term success could prove even more difficult given they haven't selected a player in the first round of the NFL draft since 2016.
"There's precious few ways to get good, young talent, so that's another challenge," Tannenbaum said. "They just have to identify what the core players are and then others are going to have to move on ... that's part of team building."
Less than two years after signing him to the richest running back contract in NFL history, the Rams cut Gurley, the 2018 NFL Offensive Player of the Year whose production declined last season. Then they traded Cooks, who was in the midst of a five-year, $81 million extension, to the Houston Texans in exchange for a 2020 second-round and 2022 fourth-round pick.
For some, the decision to move on from Gurley and Cooks shortly after they signed mega-extensions signaled that the Rams were throwing in the towel on the 2020 season, looking only to 2021. But Jason Fitzgerald, the founder of salary-cap analysis website OverTheCap.com, saw it differently.
"For the long-term health of the team, I think what they did was pretty necessary," Fitzgerald said. "They looked at two mistakes that they made and said, 'All right, should we keep chasing money or do whatever we can to create as much as possible in the future?'"
The offense must evolve without Gurley and Cooks behind an offensive line that declined last season and struggled at times during training camp.
McVay will likely utilize more two-tight-end sets involving Tyler Higbee and Gerald Everett, something he dabbled with in the final five games last season.
Malcolm Brown, a sixth-year pro and undrafted free agent, will lead the effort to replace Gurley, followed by second-year pro Darrell Henderson Jr. and rookie Cam Akers, a second-round pick from Florida State. Fourth-year receiver Josh Reynolds and rookie Van Jefferson, a second-round pick from Florida, will replace Cooks.
Defensively, several questions remain. Outside linebacker Dante Fowler Jr. and Cory Littleton signed elsewhere in free agency, and the Rams released outside linebacker Clay Matthews and nickelback Nickell Robey-Coleman in an effort to clear cap space.
The Rams do not have a linebacker on their roster who started last season.
The Rams signed outside linebacker Leonard Floyd, a former first-round pick who was released by the Bears, to a one-year, $10 million deal to play opposite 2019 backup Samson Ebukam. They also drafted Terrell Lewis in the third round, but he remains sidelined indefinitely because of a knee issue.
The Rams will depend on Micah Kiser at inside linebacker alongside Kenny Young, whom they acquired last season in the Peters trade with Baltimore. Expected starter Travin Howard will miss the season with a torn meniscus.
It's not exactly the Super Bowl-ready squad McVay entered the 2018 season with, but he remains confident this group can get the job done.
"I couldn't be more excited," McVay said. "I don't really care what the narrative is, I care about the belief I have in our players, our coaches and how excited I am to attack this opportunity and write our own story."
