With no regular-season games to go off of, it can be difficult to rank teams in the NFL from best to worst. There are always a handful of surprises each year, whether it’s a team being much worse than expected or a team going from worst to first in their division.
For the most part, the Rams are viewed as a middle-of-the-pack team. They could contend for a Super Bowl, or they could struggle to win seven games if star players go down.
With Week 1 upon us, experts from around the internet have put out their initial power rankings for the 2024 season. The Rams are ranked between 11th and 17th, with most experts putting them somewhere in the 12-15 range.
Bleacher Report: 11th
ProFootballTalk: 17th
NFL.com: 15th
Pro Football Focus: 12th
CBS Sports: 15th
Yahoo Sports: 14th
The Athletic: 12th
FOX Sports: 12th
The Ringer: 15th
That’s a perfectly reasonable way to assess this team at the start of the season, though their ceiling is probably higher than most if everyone can stay healthy. The offense ranked first in yards per play last season when Matthew Stafford, Kyren Williams, Puka Nacua and Cooper Kupp were all on the field together, while the defense added several reinforcements this offseason to mitigate the loss of Aaron Donald.
The Rams’ schedule is no cakewalk, especially early in the season when they’re set to face the Lions, 49ers, Bears and Packers all in the first five weeks, but Los Angeles has the talent to come out of that stretch at 3-2 or 4-1 to start the year.
A win over the Lions in Sunday’s opener will surely thrust the Rams into the top 10 of Week 2’s power rankings, making a statement to kick off the year just as they did last season.