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Inside the Los Angeles Rams’ rapid decline
The Los Angeles Rams were the next big thing in the NFL two years ago. As recently as 2018, the Sean McVay-led offensive juggernaut, which featured Jared Goff at quarterback (a first-overall pick) …
nypost.com
By Jeremy Layton
The Los Angeles Rams were the next big thing in the NFL two years ago.
As recently as 2018, the Sean McVay-led offensive juggernaut, which featured Jared Goff at quarterback (a first-overall pick) and Todd Gurley at running back (the 2017 Offensive Player of the Year), was being talked about as a perennial contender. McVay was the innovative mind in the NFL, and anyone who had ever stood within six feet of him (before social distancing) was getting hired as an NFL head coach (looking at you, Zac Taylor).
Now the team is coming off a third-place finish in an increasingly loaded NFC West. GM Les Snead has stacked the Rams’ books with bad contracts, and they are set to go five straight years without a first-round draft pick.
The Rams’ potential unraveling started before they even got to the Super Bowl. In April 2018, they traded a first-round draft pick to the Patriots for Brandin Cooks, a receiver whom New England didn’t view as a true No. 1. Los Angeles then signed Cooks to a five-year, $81 million extension, which currently ranks sixth among wide-receiver contracts in terms of total value and total guaranteed money (ahead of DeAndre Hopkins, Stefon Diggs and Tyreek Hill).
After an impressive first season with the Rams, Cooks struggled in 2019, catching 42 passes for 583 yards and two touchdowns while dealing with concussion issues. The relationship appears to have deteriorated with trade rumors surrounding Cooks he cryptically tweeted “free me” last week.
A week after the Rams extended Cooks, Snead signed Gurley to a four-year, $60 million extension. It was stunning then, given the torn ACL he suffered at Georgia and the fact that he plays running back. It makes even less sense now, as the last two years have been a scourge for running backs and their market value. His whopping $45 million in guaranteed money was far and away the most for a running back in NFL history.
Lo and behold, Gurley’s knee issues returned. After carrying the ball a combined 535 times over the 2017 and 2018 seasons, he developed an arthritic condition in his knee that sidelined him for much of the Rams’ Super Bowl run. He was far less effective in 2019, rushing for just 857 yards. Los Angeles then shocked the NFL by cutting him just two years into his new deal. The team was left with $20.15 million in dead cap after his release.
The third huge extension Snead gave out has yielded similarly troubling results. After the Rams went to the Super Bowl, they rewarded Goff – whom they traded six draft picks (including two first-rounders) to get back in 2016 – with four more years and $134 million. Again, they loaded on the guaranteed money: the $110 million in guarantees remains the most for any player in NFL history.
Goff was good, maybe great, in 2018. He went to the Pro Bowl and threw for 4,688 yards and 32 TDs. But in 2019, he regressed severely. He finished 22nd in the NFL in passer rating and threw 16 interceptions (with many more that were dropped). The book is not yet written on the 25-year-old, but at least last season, Goff was far from deserving of the NFL’s biggest contract.
Without Gurley in the lineup, McVay’s system just didn’t work as well and Goff wasn’t nearly as effective. That reality was foreshadowed with two huge losses in 2018. The Bears shut Gurley down on “Sunday Night Football” that December (season-low 28 rushing yards) as Goff threw four picks. In the Super Bowl, a less-than-healthy Gurley rushed 10 times for 35 yards, and Bill Belichick and the Patriots dismantled McVay on the world’s biggest stage. Between the two games, the Rams scored nine points.
With an ineffective Gurley in 2019, the Rams stumbled. Then, in a desperation move, Snead traded two more first-round picks to the Jaguars for cornerback Jalen Ramsey, leaving them without a Day 1 selection until 2022. To make room for Ramsey, they traded incumbent starting cornerback Marcus Peters to the Ravens for linebacker Kenny Young.
Ramsey was not an upgrade. In his 10 games in Baltimore, Peters had three interceptions, two of which went for touchdowns, and a 63.4 passer rating against. Ramsey had one pick and allowed an 87.5 passer rating when targeted. They sacrificed major draft capital for minimal gains, and retaining Ramsey is not a guarantee. He will be a free agent after 2020, and they have so much money tied up in other players that they may get priced out.
What now? So far this offseason, their defense lost Dante Fowler Jr., Cory Littleton, Nickell Robey-Coleman and Eric Weddle (who retired). Gurley signed with the Falcons. Cooks may get traded for the third time in four years. Even their Pro Bowl kicker, Greg Zuerlein, left for the Cowboys.
The best way to fix an expensive roster is with draft picks or cheap veterans. But the Rams still have two more years until they can draft in the first round. And Snead has continued to throw money around like a teen getting a hold of his parents’ credit card. He re-signed 38-year-old left tackle Andrew Whitworth for three more years, $30 million total, $12.5 million guaranteed. It’s the highest-paying contract for a non-QB over 35 in NFL history, per NFL.com.
To replace Fowler, they signed pass rusher Leonard Floyd from the Bears. Floyd was a former top-10 pick who was cut by Chicago after posting just three sacks in 2019, and that came playing alongside Khalil Mack. The Rams will pay him up to $13 million in 2020 with incentives. That’s more than $4 million per sack.
The cherry on top is that their division might be the best in football. The 49ers just went to the Super Bowl. The Seahawks have Russell Wilson, one of the NFL’s best quarterbacks. And the Cardinals, who have one of the league’s more exciting young signal-callers in Kyler Murray, just robbed Bill O’Brien and the Texans of DeAndre Hopkins.
The argument could be made that they’ve become the worst team in the NFC West, with no clear avenue for improvement. How things can change in just one NFL season.
A week after the Rams extended Cooks, Snead signed Gurley to a four-year, $60 million extension. It was stunning then, given the torn ACL he suffered at Georgia and the fact that he plays running back. It makes even less sense now, as the last two years have been a scourge for running backs and their market value. His whopping $45 million in guaranteed money was far and away the most for a running back in NFL history.
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