Though the Los Angeles Rams took a minor step back in their pursuit of championship gold, saying goodbye to multiple fan-favorite veterans in the pursuit of reloading the cupboard with young talents on long-term contracts, you wouldn’t know it by their record, as, despite saying goodbye to the likes of Odell Beckham Jr, Jalen Ramsey, Andrew Whitworth, Leonard Floyd and Von Miller from their 2021 Super Bowl roster, Sean McVay had his team looking downright promising.
But can the Rams keep that luck going in 2024, going from the most fun Wild Card team in the NFL to a squad with genuine expectations both internally and externally? Well, considering the Rams have loaded up on top-tier talent, acquired even more blue-chip prospects in the draft, and lucked out on a few moves on the margins, it sure looks like LA will be in it for a playoff spot right up until the very end of the season, especially if they can get complementary production from these position groups, instead of just counting on one star to shoulder the load on their own.
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1. The Rams front will shine without Aaron Donald
When Aaron Donald announced his retirement from the NFL after a decade of dominance as the focal point of the Rams defense, it brought up legitimate questions as to just how effective Chris Shula’s defense could be without number 99 in the middle of the field.
Now granted, many of those questions are justified, as Donald has been among the most dominant players in the NFL over the last decade regardless of position, with even the most hardcore fans sometimes taking for granted just how much he impacted the game every time he was on the field. While Kobie Turner is great and will ultimately fill the void AD left behind both in terms of production and on-field leadership, expecting any one player to replace a legend is a tough pill to swallow.
Fortunately, the Rams really aren’t expecting Turner, or anyone for that matter, to do that, and will instead look to replace his production in the aggregate with pre-existing players like “The Conductor” and Byron Young but also Jared Verse and Braden Fiske, Les Snead’s first and second-round picks in the 2024 NFL Draft.
Will it work? Only time will tell, but considering just how much talent Snead has assembled for Schula up front between rookies, rookie-scale players, and returning veterans like Bobby Brown III, it’s safe to assume the Rams’ defense will be on-par, if not a little better than 2023 based on optionality alone.
2. Puka Nacua has less than 1,000 receiving yards
When it came to professional football in Los Angeles last season, few stories were as exciting as the out-of-nowhere emergence of Puka Nacua, who went from a relatively unheralded fifth-round pick out of BYU to one of the most prolific young talents in the NFL, breaking the rookie receiving record while doing just a little bit of everything for the Rams’ offense.
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On paper, Nacua isn’t your typical flash-in-the-pan rookie who crushes it right out of the gate but never recaptures his rookie glory; his production wasn’t gimmicked using trick plays or some Wildcat-esque loophole that the NFL quickly neutralized but instead through quality route running, good body control, and, most crucially of all, the trust of his starting quarterback. But now that the word is out that Nacua is such a quality pass catcher, with his name near the top of any opposing team’s scouting report, will he be able to put up another 1,400-yard season?
No, probably not, but honestly, that’s okay.
You see, Nacua’s 2023 was about as best-case a scenario any young wide receiver could ask for; Cooper Kupp missed the first four games of the season with a hamstring injury, and in his absence, Nacua amassed an incredible 52 targets through the first month of the season while catching 39 of those balls for 501 yards and a touchdown.
With Kupp healthy and ready to go for Week 1, the emergence of Jordan Whittington as a potential Day 3 breakout rookie, and a seeming desire to take the Rams offense in a more run-focused direction on the backs of Kyren Williams and Blake Corum, don’t be surprised if Nacua doesn’t match his total from last season, or even falls below 1,000 yards when everything is said and done, as there are simply too many mouths to feed to give him 500 yards in the first four weeks of the season.
Fortunately, a lighter total from Nacua would almost certainly mean a more balanced Rams offense, which, in the end, would be a major win for LA’s playoff chances.
