What a difference a year can make.
When the post-Super Bowl Rams went up in flames in 2022, it was fair to wonder what it meant for this star-studded cast; after all, their wunderkind head coach, Sean McVay, was contemplating retirement.
Instead, McVay came back and arguably led an even more impressive rebound than the one he headed during his first year in Los Angeles, when he got a young Jared Goff back on track after a historically bad rookie season. General manager Les Snead moved aggressively to reset the roster, and McVay and his coaching staff went about finding gems in the wave of opportunity that created for their young players.
The Rams now enter the 2024 offseason with a 1st-round pick in hand for the first time since they selected Goff with the 1st overall selection back in the 2016 NFL Draft. They also have an estimated $35 million in cap space (per Spotrac); with guard Kevin Dotson and cornerback Ahkello Witherspoon heading their own list of free agents, that space could allow the Rams to be active when the market opens up.
2023 was a proof-of-concept season for the post-Super Bowl Rams, and they hit it out of the park; now the focus can shift back to chasing down the 49ers in the NFC West.
The Defense: Aaron Donald’s Contract or Less Than $1.5
Much like the 2023 offseason, Los Angeles’s resource allocation amounts to Aaron Donald’s top-of-market contract and everyone else. It’s not an exaggeration; the second-biggest defensive cap hit for 2024 is linebacker Ernest Jones at $1.4 million.
But unlike the 2023 offseason, it’s not a bunch of unknown names around Donald. The Rams CRUSHED the 2023 Draft, adding edge rusher Byron Young in the second round and defensive tackle Kobie Turner in the third along with the studs they found on offense. There is still room to add talent - particularly in the secondary - but with Donald, Turner, Young, and the aforementioned Jones in his defensive front, new defensive coordinator Chris Shula is starting from a much more established place than Raheem Morris did last year. Throw in the contributions of Michael Hoecht, the NFL’s largest edge player, and the Rams have a lot of structure to build around.
They also don’t have any glaring holes; the secondary stands out for lacking a big-time playmaker, but that’s different than having a glaring need. That gives the Rams plenty of flexibility with the 19th overall pick; they could elect to target an offensive lineman, but if they resign left tackle Alaric Jackson, a restricted free agent, then Los Angeles could target the best available player on defense.
The Offense: Where Does This Group Get Better?
Were it not for the torn ACL that tight end Tyler Higbee suffered in the NFL Playoffs, the Rams would be entering 2024 with one of the most established skill groups in the NFL. With rookie Puka Nacua emerging as an impact player alongside Cooper Kupp, and the diminutive Tutu Atwell providing a dynamic threat over the top, the Rams have as talented and versatile a group of pass-catchers as any team in the NFL. Throw in running back Kyren Williams, and quarterback Matthew Stafford has no shortage of options.
There are pieces of the line in flux - left tackle Alaric Jackson and right guard Kevin Dotson are scheduled to be free agents - but left guard Steve Avila and right tackle Rob Havenstein will be back, and the Rams showed the ability to navigate turnover on the line last offseason. There is also the possibility that they cut Joe Noteboom, who has a significant cap hit despite losing his tackle job; Noteboom’s dead cap hit means cutting him would only result in a savings of $5 million, but that $5 million could cover most of Dotson’s deal if the guard winds up in the $7-10 million market.
The Rams would benefit from adding another elite talent - any NFL offense would - but few teams appear to be in better shape on that side of the ball at this point in the offseason.
That Easy?
Perhaps.
Nothing is certain in the NFL, and the Rams would need all sorts of things to go their way to win a Super Bowl…but the same is true of every other team.
It might sound too easy given where the Rams were, and the fact that they did not win a playoff game this year, but from my perspective, the heavy lifting was done last offseason. There was a reason that the Rams were projected to finish near the bottom of the NFC; they were coming off a disappointing season, there were questions about Stafford’s health, and they had spent the offseason shedding most of the recognizable names on their roster.
The feel could not be more different heading into 2024. The loss of defensive coordinator Raheem Morris stings, but every NFL team faces changes each offseason, and losing one coordinator is relatively modest by the league’s standards. With cap space and draft picks in hand, Snead and McVay can head into this offseason with the focus on building talent rather than shedding cap dollars, and that’s a much better place to be.
Early 2024 Projection: 1st in the NFC West (The 49ers will be stacked…but few things stay the same in the NFL)