The Rams have given their fans a lot to be excited about. They made a blockbuster trade for Matthew Stafford this offseason, acquired Von Miller before the trade deadline earlier this month and then signed Odell Beckham Jr. after he was released by the Browns.
It’s a star-studded roster, featuring the likes of Aaron Donald, Cooper Kupp, Jalen Ramsey and Leonard Floyd. But if you look beyond those marquee players, there are some real concerns.
There’s a serious lack of depth on the Rams’ roster and although injuries are out of their control, this problem is partly the result of their aggressive approach to roster-building. Because the Rams have traded away so many of their valuable draft picks, they’ve struggled to find role players who can consistently contribute behind the top starters. After all, football games aren’t won by three or four players. Sustained success requires a team to have quality depth and backups who can step up when needed. The Rams don’t have much of that right now.
A quick glance at the snap counts from their loss to the Packers shows their problematic lack of depth, especially on offense. Their 11 starters all played at least 81% of the snaps, with 10 of them playing 98-100%. Odell Beckham Jr., in just his second game with the Rams, only missed one snap. That’s because with Ben Skowronek out, J.J. Koski and Landen Akers were the Rams’ only other backup receivers, and Sean McVay was clearly not confident in giving them playing time.
Tyler Higbee didn’t come off the field for a single play and his backup, Kendall Blanton, played just one snap: a kneel-down at the end of the first half. With Johnny Mundt out for the year, the Rams don’t have a viable backup tight end.
If one of their top three receivers were to go down, they’d be left with Skowronek, Akers or Koski as a starter. If Higbee gets hurt, Blanton or Brycen Hopkins – who have done nothing all year – would be thrust into a starting role.
It’s a similar story at cornerback. Jalen Ramsey played every snap and Darious Williams played 99%, which is perfectly fine for the top two corners. Dont’e Deayon played 85% as the third corner, a deservedly big role for the former practice squad player.
But other than that, not a single other cornerback got on the field. It’s a sign of the lack of trust the Rams have in David Long Jr., who was supposed to be Troy Hill’s replacement but has struggled in every opportunity he’s been given this year.
At safety, Jordan Fuller and Taylor Rapp play every snap each week and Nick Scott mixes in for about a third of the snaps, but Terrell Burgess has apparently regressed so significantly that he hasn’t played a single defensive snap in seven games this season and has played just 35 all season. Think the Rams trust him to step up if Fuller, Rapp or Scott were to get hurt? Absolutely not.
Heck, Scott and Rapp haven’t been playing well at all in recent weeks and Burgess has still been shut out of any playing time on defense. That’s alarming.
Again, the Rams can’t do anything about the injuries they’ve sustained. They can’t help that Tutu Atwell and Jacob Harris suffered season-ending injuries, even though neither of them had a role on offense anyway. Robert Woods injuring his knee in practice and missing the rest of the season wasn’t the team’s fault. They can’t control Mundt tearing his ACL and leaving the Rams dangerously thin at tight end. There was nothing they could do about Cam Akers, Jake Funk and Raymond Calais all going down at running back.
But with a roster that’s extremely top-heavy, the Rams have left themselves with very little depth behind the starters. And that’s having an effect on special teams, too, where they’ve been unable to find a capable return specialist. Against the Packers, Koski fumbled a punt and dropped the ball on a kickoff, as did Sony Michel.
There are no reinforcements on the way at wide receiver, tight end or cornerback, either. The Rams are essentially stuck with the players they’ve got because with $1.8 million in cap space and very few quality options available in free agency, their flexibility isn’t very good.
So for the rest of the season, the Rams have to hope that Beckham can stay healthy, which might be a challenge after he was seen wincing and holding his back after every play Sunday. They have to hope that Darrell Henderson Jr. doesn’t continue to get banged up because Michel has hardly been impressive as the No. 2 back. They have to hope Higbee doesn’t miss any time whatsoever because starting Blanton at tight end is a scary thought.
Oftentimes, the best teams are the healthiest ones at the end of the season, but also those with capable role players who have the ability to step in as starters if needed. The Rams don’t have many of those right now.
[listicle id=658739]