Article: Rodrigue: Rams’, Sean McVay’s measure of success looks very different in 2023

Rodrigue: Rams’, Sean McVay’s measure of success looks very different in 2023
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By Jourdan Rodrigue
30m ago

IRVINE, Calif. — The location is the same, but the roster, much of the coaching staff, the practice schedule and the expectations … and how those expectations are measured … are not.

The 2023 Rams know what they look like on paper. On any given day of training camp down at U.C. Irvine, they will have between 35 and 40 rookies on their roster — give or take the imminent churning of the bottom of that roster as the next few weeks unfold.

“They don’t believe in us,” head coach Sean McVay said with a chuckle Tuesday morning as the team reported to its swanky Newport hotel base, when a reporter asked him about the Rams’ current 6 1/2-win betting line.

A team and a head coach, who all once measured the success or failure of a season by one question — Did they win the Super Bowl, or not? — now have reframed that measurement:

“Continuous improvement,” McVay said, “being able to see that growth, see how we handle a 17-game season. The reality in this sport is, you’re going to have to be able to navigate through a storm and being able to do that, I think, is going to be one of the separators.


McVay on 'maniacal' pursuit of a Super Bowl

The Rams’ rosters, especially since 2020, embodied their all-out sprint to return to, and win, a championship. Every decision they made, from trades and cuts to schematic twists and turns, illustrated a quest to find every answer possible to any problem imaginable along the way.

Now, we’ll have to view anything — whether daily progress in camp and practices through the year, wins and losses, production or lack thereof in any number of quantifiable areas — as sets of staircases versus a built-by-design rocket to the moon. This team used to be constructed to specifically contend for Super Bowls; now it is built to set up a resource-rich 2024, and simply do its best in 2023 (and even the consequences for failure aren’t really that bad this year, as opposed to others … because they still have their 2024 first-round pick, for now).

Practices will look different — not just because they are scheduled for a little later in the day than in recent years. When the bulk of the Rams’ key contributing players were veterans, a side effect to having all of that experience and skill was that they couldn’t (and frankly shouldn’t) push those players to expend the same type of physical energy as they would if they were younger. While every player’s output will be managed by the athletic training staff, aside from injuries it’s likely that fewer players will be on pitch counts or taking “vet days” than we’ve seen in the past. Installation work, such as what was heavily emphasized in OTAs, can even be faster and more competitive because there is less “career” wear and tear limiting the reps of certain players. Everything has to have an edge to it, because a lot of young guys have to learn a lot, and quick.

“Really, it was the first time since 2018 we were able to get some full-speed work,” McVay said of the Rams’ offseason programming. “You really felt like guys were learning how to practice (and) understanding the intricacies of some of the standards that we want to be able to have.”

Added eight-year veteran tight end Tyler Higbee, “I think that’s good, it raises the intensity of practice a little bit.”

Many coaches are different. McVay overhauled much of his staff after 2022. Among the players made available to media Tuesday — outside linebacker Michael Hoecht, right tackle Rob Havenstein, Higbee, cornerback Cobie Durant, running back Cam Akers — all have new position coaches and some have new position coaches and a new coordinator.

There are several coaches, players and even personnel people who have expressed their belief that the Rams will be more competitive this season than they look on paper. But hey, they really may not be. Recently, Rams COO Kevin Demoff publicly expressed the team’s commitment to Stafford, and refuted offseason rumors about trade or contract restructure attempts.

But can anyone really speak in absolutes about this team, this season? Best to see proof for better or for worse, first. And can the Rams even keep Stafford upright, after a McVay-era record 63 hits in just nine healthy games in 2022? McVay said the veteran quarterback is healthy, after an ongoing elbow injury kept him on a tight pitch count last training camp and Stafford served two stints in the concussion protocol last season, then was diagnosed with a spinal cord contusion.

“He’s in a great place,” McVay said. “He’s been able to get a lot of work done in this offseason that he really hasn’t in a handful of previous offseasons. He’s able to establish a rhythm and rapport with the guys he’s gonna be playing with. He feels great. …

“We want to do everything in our power to make sure that we’re protecting him. … We want to do a much better job of keeping him upright.”

I asked, what have McVay’s offseason conversations with Stafford about his short-term and long-term future with the Rams been like, as he enters the second year of a four-year extension signed in early 2022?

“I know that he’s got a look in his eye, (he is) having fun out there competing … I think that’s where his mindset is. There was a zest, and a bounce in his step,” McVay said. “When he feels good, people feel good around him. … That was something that’s really important. I think he’s excited about playing really good football this year, and that’s kind of where our conversations have been.”

Interesting times are ahead. And it won’t all be linear, or smooth. The answers to many, many questions facing this team won’t be clear all at once. McVay has worked at reframing his own perspective about that in particular, after a disastrous 2022 season that featured the implosion of his team and personal adversity.

“It’s one thing to say, ‘be in the moment, be where your feet are planted’ — but then living it. It’s one thing to say it, but are you really modeling the way?” McVay said. “Are we really worrying about the things that we can control? We’re going to prepare every single week with the expectation to try to go win a football game. …

“As long as you’re able to say, ‘All right, what are the values (and) principles that guide our everyday approach, what we want to be, what we want our tape to (look) like and how we move from one thing to the next, one play to the next?’ … (Those are) the things that I want to be able to see.”


More notes and updates

• McVay said earlier in the spring that he expected all players to be healthy entering training camp, but noted Tuesday morning that tight end Hunter Long (groin) and offensive lineman Warren McClendon (knee) are likely to go on PUP this week. The Rams acquired Long in the spring as a part of the trade that sent star cornerback Jalen Ramsey to the Dolphins. Long did practice in the spring and McVay indicated the issue is new. McClendon missed OTAs because of the knee issue.

• McVay confirmed that he and Veronika, his wife, are expecting their first child (a boy) in October. Veronika McVay initially announced the news on Instagram this spring.

• As I previously reported this spring, the Rams considered/discussed bringing in a veteran pass rusher when assessing post-draft (read: cheaper) roster additions, McVay confirmed Tuesday. That group features mostly rookies, plus new-to-the-position Hoecht and second-year player Daniel Hardy. McVay said the staff want to see who among the young players emerges over the next couple of months (and noted the team’s financial limitations).

• McVay checked in on a couple of moves (either departures or additions) that have occurred since spring workouts: The Rams cut one of their two rookie kickers, so now only feature undrafted free-agent Tanner Brown at the position, and they added veteran cornerback Ahkello Witherspoon on what a team source said was a one-year deal.

“Tanner did an excellent job in the spring, really separated himself,” said McVay of the Rams’ kicking situation. He did not rule out bringing in additional (and possibly more veteran) competition for Brown as camp progresses.

“With Ahkello, I’ve always respected his game from afar,” McVay added. “He’s got length, he’s got a lot of the traits and characteristics that you’re looking for. … I know he’s had some injury things, but when he played he did a great job in Pittsburgh. Both Raheem (Morris) and Aubrey (Pleasant) really liked what they saw on tape with him. I’m excited to be around him … he’ll add some depth, and hopefully continue to push where we find the best guys for the secondary that (will) be a younger group. He’s got some veteran experience.”

• Durant noted that in his second season, he’ll be playing more of the “star” position — the multi-faceted situational role within the defense’s coverage philosophy that can feature him in the slot, as a safety, or as an outside cornerback. Because the star is matchup-based, Durant’s film responsibilities will increase from the “match” studies the Rams already do on defense. In the best version of their system (which suffered as their offense did in 2022), they study opponents’ pass-game tendencies and route combinations, which obviously change week to week, in order to “match” them out of a zone pre-snap look. The star’s versatility intends to either create an “unavoidable” player on the field who can make plays on the ball, or to force the quarterback’s hand into a defensive mathematical advantage based on where they are aligned.

So Durant has a lot of information to absorb and apply.

“Taking it day by day, staying in the playbook,” he said. “Asking questions — no question is a dumb question.”

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#HelmetHornsMatter

“Well, the color is good, I like the metallic blue,” Youngblood recently said while laughing, via NFL Journal. “The horn is terrible. It looks like a ‘C.’ When I first saw it on the logo I honestly thought it was a Charger logo.

“Now when I see it on the helmet, it just isn’t a ram horn. There is no distinct curl like a mature ram horn. I don’t know how the Rams could get that wrong. That is your symbol and it has been for what? Seventy years or more? Longer than I have been alive? It’s just not us, it’s not the Rams.”---Mr. Ram Jack Youngblood