The Los Angeles Rams Are A Good Team, But Have One BIG Problem | 2024 NFL Team Previews

Intro the Los Angeles Rams finished the 2023 season with a 10- s record and made the playoffs for the third time in four years Unfortunately they lost in the Wild Card round of the playoffs to the Detroit Lions with a score of 24 to 23 what we did not know at the time of that game ending was that it would be future Hall of Famer Aaron Donald's final career game and the Rams had their work cut out for them this offseason as they weren't just replacing a longtime veteran that had fallen off over the past few years and they weren't just replacing a guy who made a pro bowl or two in his prime no they had to replace one of the best defensive players to ever play the game and there's no easy way to do that but aside from having to replace Aaron Donald entering the 2024 season I thought the Rams had a pretty solid off season All Things Considered but entering 2024 the Rams have one glaring problem now outside of that problem this roster is one of my favorites in all of football and I think they are a pretty underrated team heading into the year are they going to be Super Bowl champions this year I would say probably not but I think this team can easily win a playoff game as we sit here in August but if they're not going to win the Super Bowl how far can they go well we're going to break everything down in today's video now let's begin it's been a few weeks since we discussed the importance of drinking water and staying hydrated with Circ circle circle has played a big part in keeping me hydrated this summer and one of the reasons for that has been continuously choosing from one of the flavors they sent me now I know not everybody is a big fan of drinking water and I get it some people just flat out don't like the taste but with circle there's zero calories no sugar and no artificial colors or flavors and each sip cartridge can flavor the equivalent of 6 20 oz fully flavored Beverages and I wanted to show you what one sip cartridge looks like here this is blue raspberry for reference and I did have the box right here as well so we have the box and then we have the the flavor cartridge so I wanted to show you what it looks like guys I cannot recommend it enough whether it was blue raspberry white Cherry I loved them all Circle really took care of me in the package and there's over 100 flavors at drink circle.com I love Circle I've been using it for about a month now and you can get a free white stainless steel bottle and flavor cartridge with your first order of $35 or more at drink circle.com analysis once again that's a free white stainless steel bottle and flavor cartridge with your first order of $35 or more at drink circle.com slfo analysis and a big thank you to Circle for sponsoring today's video and Biggest Losses we are starting today's video by breaking down the Rams biggest losses this offseason and their biggest Acquisitions this off season prior to the NFL draft of course as those guys will be primarily discussed during the rookie impact part of the video and believe believe it or not they didn't lose too much in free agency as the biggest contract a former Ram signed with another team on an average annual value basis was Believe It or Not Carson Wentz who signed with the Chiefs aside from Carson they lost safety Jordan Fuller who signed with the Panthers and Center Coleman Shelton who signed with the Bears so all in all it wasn't a bad off season for them losing guys in free agency now losing players to retirement is another thing however many times you've heard about the Rams losing Aaron Donald and the impact it will have on them entering 2024 trust me it's not enough there will never be another Aaron Donald and he was absolutely a guy who you can either tell your kids you saw him play or you have actual memories of watching him play he was one of one but one thing Aaron said over the past few months about his retirement was he wanted to leave the Rams in a good situation when he retired from a defensive line standpoint and he did as the Rams had a great 2023 draft class even outside of Puka nakua two of my favorite picks they had were Byron young and Kobe Turner who each had great rookie years and especially Kobe Kobe Defense had 48 pressures as a rookie which was 17th amongst interior defensive lineman last year he showed a lot of flashes as a rookie and actually finished a single pressure behind the number nine overall pick Jaylen Carter who finished the year with 49 pressures teammate Byron young had 50 in his rookie year which was third amongst all rookies only behind will Anderson of the Texans who of course won the Defensive Rookie of the Year and T Li tuy palu of the Chargers I know the thought process may be something along the lines of are these guys products of Aaron Donald or are they actually going to be good moving forward basically without the protector and to me I thought each player was really good during their rookie year and especially Kobe who showed violent hands at times on tape not only that but the Rams drafted one of my favorite prospects in the draft to play opposite of Byron in Florida State's Jared verse GM lesne truly did as good of a job as he could have in replacing the future Hall of Famer he drafted really well in 2023 and spent their first two picks on the trenches defensively in 2024 and that's what has to be remembered for the Rams entering this year no single player is going to be able to replace Aaron but collectively they can attempt to now the one part of the Rams defense that concerns me entering the year is their secondary the 2023 Rams defense was okay outside of the defensive line and okay may be a stretch the 2023 Rams finished 11th in opposing rushing attempts against which obviously the Rams nor any team can control what the opposing offense is going to call playwise I mean obviously right but based off of game Flow you can probably infer that a team like the Panthers who finished 2023 with a 2-5 record probably had the ball ran on them a lot especially when you factor in they had eight double digit losses and opposing teams did as Carolina finished 28th in rushing attempts against and the reason we bring this up is because the Rams finished 11th in rushing attempts against despite finishing 17th and yards per carry allowed this was because teams would have preferred to attack the Rams through the air rather than on the ground and La finished 25th in passing attempts against and it was due in large part to the secondary their Corners entering this year to me are concerning which is a pretty big understatement travius white will turn 30 in January and has played 10 games over the last 2 years total not in each season and he played in just 11 games in 2021 so he's played in just 21 total games over the last 3 years if you think davius is going to turn the clock back going on 30 after tearing his ACL back in 2021 and tearing his Achilles last year I mean you do you I'm not going to tell you what to believe but this situation specifically is going to have to be a see it to believe it scenario for me personally and this of course goes without being said but I do wish travius the best moving forward now aside from Trey their other top corners are Darius Williams who of course played with the Rams earlier in his career and is coming off of a good year with the Jags but it is worth noting he is 31 years old to be completely honest I have a lot more faith entering the 24 season in Darius than I do any other Rams corner but at 59 187 and with receivers in the division like DK metf Marvin Harrison Jr and Debo Samuel all of which who have significant height and weight on him or at least the weight on Debo's part and DK and Marvin being of course North of 6 foot 3 I have concerns with Darius when it comes to play in the division Kobe Durant is also 511 180 and for a team that struggled to defend the pass last year Well I worry about that entering this year too I still think the Rams are going to be a very good team and I think they are going to be an incredibly tough team to beat every single Sunday but I do think there are clear limitations with this team entering 2024 positively what I will say is with how good their pass rush will be their Corners are going to naturally cover opposing receivers for a less amount of time than the league average and even a tenth of a second in the NFL makes a big difference one signing I liked a lot was the addition of safety Cameron curl curl has made a nice career for himself after being a seventh round pick back in 2020 out of Arkansas and I would expect the same from him this year he is also only 25 years old so if the best case scenario happens then there is a possibility he starts for this team for the next 3 or 4 years we've said this before but anytime you can bring in a solid starting player for just $4.5 million per year at the safety position you do it and out of any of the free agent signings the Rams made I liked this one a lot but for as much as I liked the cam curl signing I am pretty uncomfortable with what their plan is at corner entering 2024 bringing in a corner who's played Just 21 games games over the past 3 years and then signing a 31-year-old corner in today's era even if he is coming off of a good year is incredibly risky and the reality is Corner's hips and their abilities to shift on a dime and to turn are the first to go and I worry about this team and how they're going to hold up over the course of a 17 Game season the major key for the 2024 Rams to have any success meaning more than nine wins in winning a playoff game or even two which is possible is multiple guys on the defensive line are going to have to step up and they're going to have to have multiple guys have career years it is also worth noting the Rams were 2- six against playoff teams last year and with losses to teams like San Francisco Dallas and Baltimore now it is worth noting that the Green Bay game was quarterbacked by Brett rippen but one of their wins over playoff teams came over the 49ers in week 18 which was a classic between car Wentz and Sam darnold the 2023 Rams played much better in the second half of the regular season and I completely understand you can't control who you play and when you play but how much stock would you put in wins over the Cardinals commanders Saints and Giants for what it's worth I am a believer in the Rams in Shawn McVey and what they have going but I do think this part in particular is noteworthy if the 2024 Rams are going to go to the playoffs which I think everyone would agree that they can then they cannot afford to start the year with a 3- six record and for that matter they can't afford to start 1 and four and their first five games this year are going to be tough as three of their first four are on the road with trips to Detroit Arizona and Chicago the only home games are against San Francisco and Green Bay and to put it lightly this team is going to be heavily battle tested right out of the gate the 2024 Rams offense to me is Offense going to be one of the most fun units to watch in the entire league for a few reasons it of course is going to depend on health first and foremost it's going to depend on health and as of now panua is officially listed as week to week with knee injury so given that we are in early August and that the regular season is still a month away I am under the belief that puka will be ready by week one and be 100% by week one now in an offense with Matt Stafford Kyron Williams pukan neua Cooper cup Tyler higgy Kobe Parkinson and Blake corm along Ong with an offensive line that is quietly one of the better units in the league and has a very very underrated player in Right Guard Kevin doson I would be pretty surprised again barring injuries of course if the Rams don't finish top 10 in offensive points per game this team finished eighth in points per game last year and what I think is particularly impressive about that is they did this with a quarterback that missed two games so very quickly they had a quarterback miss about 15% of the season because Brett rien started one game against the Packers in which the Rams not surprisingly only put up three points and then Carson Wentz Rams Legend started the week 18 game against the 49ers now in terms of Puka kua's projection in his second season I would not expect another 105 reception 14400 yard season and that's not anti puka as much as it is just acknowledging how difficult that is to do in back-to-back Seasons not only that but I really expect the Rams to to place more of an emphasis on running the football last year or this year rather and what I think needs to be remembered is Kiron Williams is and of course Rams Fans know this but he is one of the most underrated backs in all of football and this stat you may not know but he is one of two running backs ever to finish top five in rushing in a season which he did last year as he ran for over 1100 yards while missing five games the other player to do that was Barry Sanders so that's pretty good company to be in but what I also really like that the Rams did this year and we'll get to the rookie impact in a second but they drafted Blake Corum from Michigan who his play style is very similar to Kiron Williams so if in week 15 if kyon's body is beat up or even before that if they just want to have a a 12 carry game for Kyon and a 10 carry game for Blake they're going to be able to split that up so that both backs are he by season's end which I thought was a tremendous move by lesne and Shawn McVey to have the forethought to know that they're probably going to be competing in late January and that they're going to need to have their guys at full health in the Run game and obviously we talk about running backs uh their their physical ability declining as time goes on just because of the wear and tear on their body which is natural it happens but it also happens over the course of a season and generally speaking most most running backs are not going to be the same player in mid January after 330 touches that they are September 13th or September 24th or whatever you know whatever day in September so to be able to have a Kiren Williams and then essentially A kir Williams 2 in the same offense love the pick loved loved the potential of that and one player that we have not brought up yet is Cooper cup and Cooper is a player where I'm going to be honest I think he's solid I think he has a high floor I don't think he's going to be anywhere close to the player he was back in 2021 and there's quite a a variance on Cooper Cup right now across social media across forums across wherever you look there's some people that are big Cooper cup Believers and think he will go for 14 or 1500 yards this year and then there's people that that think Cooper is you know he's on the downside of his career he's had back-to-back Seasons with less than a ,000 yards and he's only had two career 1,000 yard years so Cooper is just a guy that had two Good Seasons and that's it I am not one of those people I think Cooper is a very solid receiver and I think he'll be right around 1,000 yards right around 1,100 yards and for a final prediction for the 2024 Rams offense I think Matt Stafford will be right around 42 4,300 yards around 26 or 27 touchdowns and I think puka and Cooper cup will each go for over 1,000 yards this year I also think kyen Williams will go for 1,000 yards and I think Blake horm will quietly rush for around 500 yards in his rookie year this offense barring health is going to be one of the most fun units to watch in the entire league and they are they are just a damn good unit all Draft Class [Music] around I really liked the 2024 Rams draft class really outside of one decision and we'll get to that but it started with the selection of pass rusher Jared verse Jared verse to me is a player that is pretty close to being bust proof and I think he has an incredibly High floor as an NFL player and I think at minimum from a pass rushing standpoint I think he'll be at least a five or six sack guy per season and that's at minimum by the way I think in 2025 and beyond that he will be much more than just a five or six sack gu per year but one part of versus game that I think is really underappreciated by most people is how good of a run Defender he is and how hard of an edge he sets which is not just critical like for for any defensive end but it's especially critical in the NFC West and I think in terms of a marriage in terms of a prospect to a team I don't know how many more fits I liked in this class than Jared verse going to the Rams because in this division alone you're going to have the Cardinals who have James Conor and Trey Benson and the Cardinals over the past few years have really really invested in the trenches and they want to be they want to run the football a lot moving forward and we've seen that by decisions they've made the Seahawks of course have Zack shanet and Kenneth Walker two players that they spent second round picks on in consecutive years along with also investing in the trenches so you know they're also going to try and run the football and the 49ers have a running back named chrisen mcaffrey who is a very very good player they have a left tackle named Trent Williams who is also a very good player future Hall of Famer by the way and we don't really need to discuss what the 49ers are everyone knows who they are everyone knows what they're about so the point is this division is going to run the football and if you can have a guy that can set a hard Edge like Jared verse I thought that pick was an A+ slam dunk for the Rams now the one decision that I was not the biggest fan of was moving up from pick 52 to pick 39 to select Braden Fisk from Florida state which was Jared versus college teammate the main reason why I wasn't the biggest fan of this was because they they they traded next year's second to go up and do that now the reality is is if Braden Fisk becomes a solid starter and even makes a single Pro Bowl in his career this trade will it it'll be worth it but for now I have a lot of questions around that I think Braden Fisk is a solid player and the reality is whenever that interior defensive line run was going at the start of the second round Johnny Newton was off the board dandre sweat was off the board the Run started they had to go up and and make a move I get it I just wasn't the biggest fan of trading next year's second round pick four uh for Braden Fisk in that situation but again this isn't Madden where you can you know quit a game and then restart and then just go from there you have to do what you have to do so I get it just wasn't the biggest fan but aside from that loved their class we already discussed Blake Corum I think Blake is going to be a really really good player for the Rams over the course of the next three or four years again another player like verse I think he is bust proof I think he is going to have a very high floor now whenever I say a guy is bust proof that doesn't mean like they're going to be the best in the best in the league at their position I just think they are they have a very solid floor and at minimum you're going to be getting a a very solid NFL player but one other player that again I don't think is discussed as much by the national media and I've seen that he's been making some noise at Rams Camp so far is third round safety cam kitchens cam kitchens was a slower safety Prospect and because of that he fell in the draft but cam led the ACC in interceptions in back-to-back years and whenever you lead not just any collegate conference but one of the power five conferences like cam did over the past two years instinctually you are a very intelligent player and I don't believe that cam led the ACC in interceptions by accident in back-to-back years now you don't want to have Cam one-on-one in in a cover two with a with DK medcafe running a a nine route down on the sideline and and having cam tested in that situation so he's a very scheme specific player and a guy that they're going to have to be smart about using him but I don't worry about that I mean these are NFL coaches we're we're not taking a little a person that's uneducate uneducated about football and saying hey go go figure something out here they're going to use him correctly they're going to develop him nicely cam kitchens will be a very very good player for the Rams over the course of time and to be honest I think from a career path standpoint he will remind me a lot of John Johnson where they took him in the third or fourth round back in 2017 John Johnson is still in the league and I expect the same from cam kitchens whenever he's entering year eight in like 2030 2031 I love his future one other player that I will discuss for the Rams draft class that I absolutely love especially for where they drafted him was Arkansas Center bo limmer bo was drafted in in in the 200s I want to say in this early part of the seventh round and anytime you can add offensive line depth and especially Al the interior offensive line with what the Rams try to do in the Run game I'm all for it I really think from a rookie impact standpoint with verse and with Corum and eventually with Fisk and then eventually with Cam kitchens as well this will prove to be a very very good draft class so for the team that says F them picks and for the team that's you know noteworthy for saying F them picks for all those years the Rams had a tremendous class and I really really loved what they did we briefly discussed Schedule the ram schedule earlier meaning their first five games and for the 2024 Rams to have success they can't start 1 and four maybe two and three but they cannot start 1 and four through the first five games they open up in Detroit which I do think will be a loss then go to Arizona then come home to play San Francisco then go to Chicago and then come home to play Green Bay they cannot afford to go one and four during that stretch if in fact they have intentions of going to the playoffs which I think at minimum would require nine wins so if they do start out 1 and four that means they would have to go 8 and four the rest of the way which is not a situation you want to be in entering your week six by so for the 2024 Rams you got to be three two and three at least through the first five hopefully 3 and two but after that it does get a little easier after their buy they play home against Vegas then play home against Minnesota on Thursday so again they have a mini buy after week8 then go to Seattle then come home to play Miami and then go to New England I don't think it's entirely reasonable that they win five in a row coming off of their week six buy will they of course is something else but one thing that the Rams struggled with during the 2023 season was when Kiren Williams went down and that was also part of the reason they drafted Blake corm so that they have insurance in case Kiron Williams goes down obviously One play can change not just a running back's season but anybody's season so to have that insurance was critical for the 2024 Rams that was just another reason why I loved the selection But ultimately with the 2024 Rams because their schedule again does get a little harder on the backstretch especially in week 14 as they play home against Buffalo then go to San Francisco and then go to the Jets in a three-game span which certainly isn't easy I don't think they're going to be the number one seed and have a first round buy and just being honest when you have a week six buy that is a strategic disadvantage for not just the Rams but for anybody so when you factor all of these things in I think the Rams are going to be at maximum a division round exit and they were only one point away from going to the divisional round last year and this roster is still very solid now obviously losing Aaron Donald is going to be a big loss but I think they did as good of a job in one offseason as you can in terms of replacing what Aaron Donald brought to the table obviously no single player is going to replace what 99 did nor should anybody expect that but I think this team can win anywhere from 9 to 11 games and whether they go 9 and 8 or 11- six to me doesn't matter because I think they're going to be a wild card team I do think the 49ers will win the division but I think the Rams will be a wild card team and they can absolutely win a playoff game but after that I think they will lose and I think that puts their ceiling at a divisional round exit but that's all I have for today I hope you enjoyed and if you did please like And subscribe as only about 37% of people watching are subscribed and helps the channel tremendously also please check out the football analysis podcast the link is in the description and I will see you next time love you guys