The Los Angeles Rams are in rare territory for their 2023 NFL predictions. First, they actually still have a first-round pick. Second, instead of trading for star players and going all in for a Super Bowl run, they’re going in the opposite direction and trading away their stars.
That makes for an incredibly interesting upcoming season for the Rams, who have been going all in since Jared Goff arrived on campus in 2016, culminating in a Super Bowl victory in the 2021 NFL season with Matthew Stafford under center.
What are the Rams’ best and worst-case scenarios for the 2023 NFL season?
Predicting the Best-Case Scenario for the Los Angeles Rams’ 2023 NFL Season?
Sometimes the best thing that can happen for the future of the franchise is to lose as many games as possible. Even if the Rams believe they can retool things somewhat quickly with Stafford remaining as their quarterback for the foreseeable future, getting the top pick in the NFL Draft is their best possible outcome.
Unless Drake Maye and Caleb Williams fall off a cliff or decide to return to school despite having draft eligibility, that top pick in 2024 will be unbelievably valuable.
The Rams’ roster is sad. There’s no other way to describe it. It’s a far cry from even a year ago before injuries hamstrung the Rams’ season. Aside from Aaron Donald, the star power they had on the defensive side of the ball is completely gone. The offensive line is still underwhelming, and no matter how much the fantasy community wants to believe in Cam Akers, he’s not turning into Christian McCaffrey.
But there is another option. Los Angeles could draft a quarterback and think for a decade-and-a-half instead of a half-decade. Unless L.A. believes they can patch all of the holes on their roster by next season, trading Stafford is likely on the table, even though they’d have to eat quite a bit of salary.
But will Sean McVay even be back for 2024? Will Les Snead keep going? Should Stan Kroenke and the fans even want that? According to Snead, it appears the tandem could be back together for more than just this season.
“I definitely think Sean’s taken the right steps, took a step back, and definitely has an action plan,” Snead said. “I think when he sat down to determine whether he wanted to coach or not in 2023, it was more than just 2023. It was for, let’s call it a longer-term range.
The best-case scenario could actually be two scenarios. McVay and Snead stick around and retool the roster for one more run in 2024-2025. The second option is starting off with a completely clean slate in 2024. New coach, GM, and QB, with the team looking firmly at building for the long-term future.
Predicting the Worst-Case Scenario for the Rams’ 2023 NFL Season?
Mediocrity is every NFL team’s worst nightmare. Teams would rather win or lose 12 games and have either a fun season or a fun offseason with higher draft capital.
Winning seven or eight games is a miserable existence. But with one of the more difficult NFL schedules and the most rookies of any roster in the league, the Rams shouldn’t have to worry too much about this.
“I think everybody knows how competitive we expect to be, and we’re trying to go win football games with the appropriate approach and perspective,” McVay said.
Those comments were in March, and a lot has changed since then.
“It’s very different and refreshing,” McVay said. “I think in a lot of instances, those are things that when you just reflect back, you take for granted.”
Maybe McVay is in this for the long haul. And no matter what else happens in 2023, that’s a good outcome for L.A.