And without a minor miracle, its going to be almost impossible to dig themselves out of. Lets start with the biggest problem.
1. The OL. I am a big believer in building a team from the inside out. So you build both lines then you go from there. This FO/coaching staff seem to feel different. It is currently just absolutely killing this team. They started off by solving (short term as it is) the LT psoition, and brought in a veteran OC. After that, they have done nothing but draft middle round picks to help replace veterans that they couldn't afford, or guys that are getting old and retiring. Why? Because the front office feels they can get starters of good quality in those rounds and the coaching staff feels they have the coaches to coach these picks up. On top of that, the thought is that zone blocking OL are easier to find then stud maulers. I really don't care why, but it isn't working. The question is how do you fix it?
I'm not sure you can fix it. There is little to no cap room to go out and find someone. There are no foreseeable 1st round picks coming in to get a blue chip OL in the draft so you are left with hoping to hit on a basement bargain FA find or praying Evans and Edwards develop along with Noteboom. You still have no center and an underperforming RT that just got paid.
This has created a trickle down effect that just accentuates the other FO/coaching issues.
2. Giving Goff 110m guaranteed money with one year of control left. I do not care what Wentz got, or what the Eagles did, because they are in the same boat. On the outside looking in right now. I get the Rams had little choice on the size of the contract, but if you aren't going to fix the OL, why not wait a year and see how he performs with the new line. I like Goff, but he is not dynamic in any sense, and to make things worse, a statue in the pocket. Im not sure spending 30m a year for a QB is a wise investment when your OL will not be anything more then a giant 5 man turnstile?
3. Giving a record contract to a RB with multiple knee issues. Again, I love Gurley, but he is a shell of his former self. And even if he wasn't, you don't pay a guy 48m to be a timeshare to keep him fresh for the playoffs and you certainly don't pay him to run behind a miserable OL. Brown and Henderson look just as bad as Gurley does behind this line, so why not save the money and use it elsewhere. RBs are almost a dime a dozen.
4. The Rams trading a 1st for Cooks then giving him a huge contract. I totally get that McVay needs a deep threat for his offense to work. My question is why did it have to be Cooks. its not like deep threat WRs don't exist in FA or the draft. On top of it, I could name 5 in this draft alone. Heck, I could name 10 or 12. So now you have a WR that has 4 concussions and hasn't even really been hit yet on an absolute monster contract.
5. Sean McVay's inability or unwillingness to change and adapt to what defenses are doing to his offense or
6. His inability to make any kind of offense work due to a poor OL, a QB that is more a product of the system then people think and a running back with arthritis. Pick any or all of those.
So I am grouping 5 and 6 together. And I know for a fact that this isn't all on the OL. Teams started figuring McVay out last year with the good line and it has only gotten worse. Sure, there are some teams that just don't have the horses to give the Rams the kind of problems other teams do. Example, TB. But the 9ers do, as do the Packers, the Bears, the Cowboys and the Vikings. So even if they squeek into the playoffs, it won't be a long run. Never mind the Steelers, Ravens, Patriots and whatnot of the AFC.
The biggest problem I see is his fixation with 2 things: 11 personnel and play action. If you have a struggling OL, you better get a 2nd TE in there or an H-back and maybe, just maybe run out of shotgun because 5 and 7 step drops after faking a handoff to a RB that the defense has ZERO respect for is bordering on suicidal in a football sense. No running game means play action is dead. Which makes me wonder, is he not altering the defense because there just isn't enough time to make all the necessary changes or is Goff just unable to adjust to those changes. He ran a air raid out of shotgun in college, so it should be like riding a bike for him.
7. The ruining of Donald's prime years with little to no help on the IDL. Brockers is average to maybe a tad above average playing out of position in a 34. There is literally no one else. And with Fowler most likely gone and Matthews winding down, not much help in sight. How does a FO with a generational talent at DT, not find a compliment to him? Its gross negligence IMO. And don't even start on Gaines. Kid spent more time rolling abound in the dirt at Washington then he did on his feet. And I have heard every excuse for this. Wade doesn't spend draft picks on DL, he doesn't spend high picks on LBers, whatever. I don't care what the reasoning is. What I do care about is that it isn't working now.
8. This weird dynamic that exists with how the FO values draft picks. I want to say its like a paradox, but that doesn't sound right either. Let me just explain. They have no regard for trading 1st and 2nd round picks for talent, even if it doesn't fit: Peters, Watkins, Ramsey and Cooks. Am I forgetting anyone? They feel that players are more valuable then picks, And fans eat this up. Yup, picks are crap shoots. Rams win the trade deadline again. Who cares about pick #25 anyhow? And so on and so forth. But then comes FA season and guess what? The Rams all of a sudden value a 3rd or 4th round (at the very end of the round btw) compensatory pick. So much so, that they don't resign their own FAs and let them go to get these "valuable" picks. So I am to believe a 3rd round pick is valuable but a 1st or 2nd isn't? I suppose as a "draft guy" I'm being to sensitive over my precious draft picks. I also have some oceanfront property 6 miles north of my place to sell to you if you believe that. What's odd to me is that Ramsey is a heck of a talent, but again, how does he fix one of the Rams 2 biggest issues? OL and DL? Its almost as if they are just trading for the shiniest toy available at the time, regardless of fit or need. Ask yourself how Ramsey makes the Rams better on offense? At least a 1st round pick has a coin flips chance of being a decent starting OL (if the front office believed in spending first round picks on OL)
So how do the Rams right the ship?
There are no blue chip draft picks coming to the rescue in the next few years.
There is little to no cap room to sign outside FAs, let alone keeping in house FAs. In fact, the Rams are going to start losing good players very soon. The Rams cannot keep Fowler, Whitworth (even if he wanted to come back, he has no place on this team) Blythe (good) Littleton (I am really afraid he is going to walk) Kupp and JJ3. Heck even Greg the Leg might price himself off the team.
McVay cannot or will not change to help the offense or his players are incapable of changing. Or a little bit of both.
Kromer and or the FO is either overvaluing the current OL or they are arrogant enough to think they can draft 4th round round players that will work.
The only real fix I see is to play the young guys. Corbett, Evans, Edwards and take your lumps while you develop them. And start working on next year now by starting to make small changes to the offense every week so you can get a jump on revamping everything next year. With a clear understanding that: 1. Goff needs help in the pocket, because he looks like a deer in the headlights. 2. Know that Gurley is broken and is at best a timeshare 3. That you may have to go stretches without Cooks (get a new deep threat this offseason)
And before the :but the Rams scored at will against the Bucs, the Rams had 2 weeks to prepare for a Steelers defense and still managed a whooping 85 yards at the half and scored 3 points on offense. That is an utter failure on so many offensive levels I cannot even begin...
Don't waste your time looking back, you're not going that way. - Ragnar Lothbrok
