The Los Angeles Rams probably did everything that they needed to do in 2023 in order to reset the franchise after a difficult 5-12 season and a strapped salary cap.
The Rams likely had no choice but to trade Jalen Ramsey and Allen Robinson, to cut Bobby Wagner and Leonard Floyd, to stay out of the free agent market.
Even with all of those moves, the L.A. Rams are still low on salary cap and entering training camp this week with one of the most inexperienced rosters in the NFL, if not the most unpredictable defense of recent league history.
For all it took for the Rams to build a Super Bowl roster in 2018 and a championship team in 2021—no this was never an “all-in for one season” strategy, as Sean McVay had a great five-year run—there was an inevitable price to pay and L.A. is taking the hit this offseason for it.
That doesn’t mean every fan has to like it. In a Twitter poll last week, 38% of Rams fans voted that the team should get a “C” grade for their 2023 offseason.
Another 31.6% voted a “B”, so I decided to round that up: A C+ grade for Les Snead this offseason. Only 13.2% of Rams fans gave the team an A and 17.1% voted for an F. (Sorry, D wasn’t an option, a D is just an F with mercy.)
Rams fans: What grade do you give the Rams front office for the 2023 offseason?
(twitter polls have max 4 options)
— TurfShowTimes (@TurfShowTimes) July 20, 2023
Essentially, most fans seem to be leaning towards the “this was not a good offseason” than understanding that L.A. pretty much did what they had to do. At least Snead and McVay, Kevin Demoff and Tony Pastoors, won a Super Bowl for their efforts to build a talented and expensive roster prior to this year. Most franchises never get so lucky.
We don’t know yet just how finalized the offseason moves are for the Rams either. Will another trade or surprising release happen?
If we assume no surprises, no big moves, then L.A. will have almost $50 million in cap space next year prior to making necessary contract moves with their own players. The Rams will also have a first round pick again finally.
Matthew Stafford, Cooper Kupp, Aaron Donald, and Rob Havenstein all have guaranteed salary in 2024. If the Rams had tried to build around this roster by pushing cap commitments into the future to add space, the team could have collapsed again and been in worse condition next offseason.
For that, I give the team at least a B for this offseason, if not an A-. What other decisions could they have made? However, many fans are leaning towards the D and that’s understandable too given that this does not look like the team we had been accustomed to in the recent past. That might be a good thing.
