Here are needed Ram position upgrades to once again be a SB contender…

The good news is that some of these upgrades are already on the roster.

In no particular order:

Backup QB. Mayfield would be perfect and my personal favorite option. Not only a tremendous upgrade but a quality starter if Stafford can’t go. But if not, then SOME upgrade over Wolford and Perkins must occur.

RB. Duh! I’m talking definite starter here. Great draft for a RB, though. No FA’s, please.

OC. Could draft OG/OC stud with a high pick. If not, Shelton is an upgrade over Allen if only because he stays healthier.

LOT. A high draft pick if one falls or a solid FA works for me. Otherwise, Jackson is an upgrade over Boom here.

LG. Could be Jackson if Rams acquire a new LOT. If not should be the OG/OC suggested above, leaving Shelton at OC.

RG. By default it would be best of Anchrum, Bruss, Brewer, or ???. Not sure any are an upgrade over Shelton in ‘23, though. Gotta cut corners somewhere, I guess.

TE. This position has become a wasteland. It’s officially embarrassing. Even Higbee and his salary might be expendable. Might need 2 TE’s. Great draft for TE’s, though. Snead has never drafted a solid TE. Rams can’t even run 12 personnel sets right now. Gulp.

Edge. Just absolutely, positively gotta have one. FA, trade, draft, who cares? Probably Job One for Snead this offseason. Reportedly a pretty good draft for edge.

CB. Gonna be some shuffling here this offseason. Unless Rams are comfortable with Durant as starter opposite Ramsey they must do a FA or draft pick for a starting CB.

S. Rams are weak at this position after expected UFA losses occur. Fuller can’t stay healthy, Scott is a UFA, and Rapp can’t cover. Other than Edge, this seems our biggest weakness on D.


I haven’t dealt with pending UFA’s much. Gaines, Gay, and Dixon seem like locks to be extended. Others, not so much. Rams might be forced to sacrifice some players, in fact, they’ve already started the pruning.

A few ‘upgrade players’ are already on board and under contract. Jackson, Shelton, some combo of Anchrum, Bruss, Brewer, and possibly Durant.

However…

That leaves a ton of needed upgrades that must come from outside via trade, FA, or draft.

RB
LOT or LG or OC (I’ll count this as just one acquisition based upon above suppositions)
TE (maybe 2)
Edge
CB
S

IOW, Snead has to hit on those 6 positions this offseason. And if he replaces Higbee then he needs a 7th hit.

Mathematically doable with 10 draft picks, some shrewd contract restructuring to free up a bit of cap room for FA, and maybe a 2nd tier trade here or there. But Snead needs to step it up with his drafting this time. ‘Pretty good’ won’t be good enough.

Meanwhile, McVay needs to shake up his asst coach staff. Recent results demand that, at least. Probably his own Job One project.

If the above are accomplished then I think Rams are back into SB conversations. Some are critically important, others are merely HIGHLY desirable. We’ll see if both Snead and McVay can get their acts together so Rams can hit the ground running come September.

Where did I go wrong?