The Los Angeles Rams have undergone a lot of changes in the last three years under the Les Snead-Sean McVay regime, but this offseason was more about departures than it was additions. Due to their limited cap space, the Rams were forced to watch more players leave than they could add to the roster.
Cory Littleton and Dante Fowler Jr. left in free agency, Nickell Robey-Coleman had his option declined, Clay Matthews was cut and Eric Weddle retired. And that’s just on the defensive side of the ball.
Todd Gurley was also cut and Brandin Cooks was traded to the Texans, leaving the Rams without two of their most productive players from 2018.
Aaron Donald has no say in who the Rams keep or let go, so he’s been forced to sit back and watch the front office work. He didn’t mince words on Thursday when discussing the losses Los Angeles suffered this offseason.
“Anytime you lose players that you feel play a huge role in helping you win games, you’re going to miss that. The whole point of playing this game is to try to win games and be a world champion,” he said. “We definitely lost some big pieces to the puzzle, but I think guys just need to step up and fill some big shoes. You build relationships with guys and you never want guys to leave but that’s the nature of the business we’re in. Not much we can do about that. Just keep finding ways to get guys better and it’s just going to be big shoes for guys to fill because we lost a lot of great core players. But I think guys are going to step up and make plays and fill some big shoes.”
The Rams sure do have a lot of shoes to fill – and big ones, at that. Those include the voids left by Littleton and Fowler at linebacker, as well as nickel corner where Robey-Coleman resided for the last three years.
Micah Kiser, Ogbonnia Okoronkwo, David Long and Terrell Burgess are among the young players who will need to step up on defense, while Cam Akers and Van Jefferson will help replace Gurley and Cooks.
Donald is just happy the Rams were able to retain Michael Brockers after his deal with the Ravens fell through.
“I was mad. I was sick about that because I think Brockers is a huge part, definitely for the defensive line,” Donald said. “Everybody always looks at the sack numbers, but from the run-stop production, I think he’s been one of the top run-stoppers in the National Football League for the past couple years.”
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