When the Los Angeles Rams take the field at SoFi Stadium in September, Cory Littleton won’t be manning the middle of the defense. Dante Fowler Jr. and Clay Matthews won’t be rushing the quarterback off the edge. Nickell Robey-Coleman won’t cover the slot, Eric Weddle won’t be aligned deep at safety, and Greg Zuerlein won’t trot out for field goal attempts. Most notably, Todd Gurley won’t be in the backfield behind Jared Goff.
The Rams will look vastly different than they did in 2019, but that was to be expected this offseason. With limited cap space and five starters hitting free agency, the front office knew major changes were coming.
“Each year, your players change, your team changes and we knew walking into this season there would be tough choices,” Rams COO Kevin Demoff told ESPN. “It’s going to be a different-looking team than the one that left the field in 2019, but I think everybody knew that was going to be the case.”
The Rams have been aggressive in their roster construction, trading first-round picks for Brandin Cooks and Jalen Ramsey in recent years. They also acquired Marcus Peters and Aqib Talib in trades, as well as Sammy Watkins. Not all of those deals worked out, leaving the Rams with limited draft capital as a result.
Los Angeles won’t be able to spend much more in free agency and it doesn’t have a first-round pick in 2020 or 2021, meaning the younger players on the roster will have to step up.
“If you look at our team, we drafted a lot of young players who, ultimately, in a salary-cap era when you have stars who have been paid, are going to have to step up,” Demoff said.
In arguably the best division in the NFL, the Rams could be in for a difficult season in 2020. But fortunately, the core of the team remains intact, with Goff, Aaron Donald and Ramsey all still in L.A.
They’re expected to perform at a high level, but players such as Micah Kiser, Ogbonnia Okoronkwo, Darrell Henderson and the younger offensive linemen will need to become quality starters. If they can’t, the Rams are in for a long year.
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