Sean McVay’s Rams are ready to go seven years in a row without a choice in the first round. (Getty)
Undoubtedly, the Los Angeles Rams have improved their position as defenders, Matthew Stafford’s transaction entering another season in which they will fight the Seahawks and the rest of a tough NFC West.
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Stafford is a powerful armed gunman who can carry a crime better than Jared Goff. Critics say he led the Detroit Lions to the playoffs three times and is 0-3 in the postseason games, but the reason for those failures is more on the Lions than on Stafford.
The Detroit rosters weren’t good enough to advance to the playoffs. Since Stafford was drafted by the Lions in 2009, they have ranked 31st in football rush. The defense wasn’t so great during the time there either.
Rams head coach Sean McVay will give Stafford a good running attack and more offensive schemes, but there could be disadvantages in this trade. The Rams could be a better playoff team next season, but maintaining a quality roster could be difficult, and the ceiling implications of this trade are brutal.
Sure, the Rams save the ceiling by giving up Goff’s contract in Detroit, but now they have $ 42.2 million in salary, with Stafford’s salary of $ 20 million, and the ceiling is expected to drop. The stage for the 2021 ceiling is 175 million dollars, most people in the entire league consider that it will be set at around 180 million dollars, with 19.2 million dollars less than the 2020 season.
Any more than 15 percent of the head-tied room in a defender makes it difficult to keep players or sign free agents. Stafford’s salary and the dead money the Rams earn by sending Goff to Detroit will consume 23.4 percent of a $ 180 million ceiling.
Rams currently has $ 35 million over a $ 180 million limit, third in the league. The Rams will have a hard time re-signing the players, and they have 13 unrestricted free agents this season. It will be difficult for them to keep Leonard Floyd, who was a star when he rushed Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson in all three games this season. They will not be able to keep the second best wide receiver, Josh Reynolds. Safety Josh Johnson was a high school star and is up. Tight end Gerald Everett is also a free agent.
There could also be an impact along the offensive line. He may be trying to sign Austin Blythe’s center again and may have to face Rob Havenstein, among others, to get under the cover.
What is clear is that McVay gets what he wants when it comes to players. Rams was an aggressive team. In the Super Bowl year, defenders Marcus Peters and Aqib Talib bought. Then they got rid of them and then switched to another star defender, Jalen Ramsey.
But there is a dangerous game. It’s pretty clear that McVay can start a player. He did this with Goff. He did it with the Brandin Cooks wide receiver. The Rams went to the Super Bowl two years ago, but ended the 2020 season with only 24 players left from that Super Bowl appearance on the final list of the 53-man team, including eight newcomers.
There was also a large turnover of coaching staff. Only five coaches remain on McVay’s initial staff when he was hired in 2017 after the Seahawks took over game coordinator Shane Waldron and assistant offensive line coach Andy Dickerson, making him offensive coordinator and game coordinator, respectively.
McVay had good coaches. Matt LeFleur, Zac Taylor and Brandon Staley received head coach concerts. But at some point, bold moves and change could reach the Rams. Goff was a first-round pick in 2016, but after the transaction for Stafford, the Rams are ready to go without the first round of the year after selecting Goff until 2023. It’s been seven years.
Like the Seahawks, the Rams benefited from compensatory options for beginners lost in the free agency. They have four this year, plus a compensatory third-round pick they will receive in 2022 for their college research director, Brad Holmes, leaving to become Detroit’s general manager.
That puts a lot of pressure on Rams’ GM Les Snead to hit the starter replacements without top picks. Seahawks GM John Schneider did his best to keep Seattle at a playoff level after a two-year Super Bowl run in 2013 and 2014, but the loss of free agency headlines saved him from a team for several years. wild-card.
Stafford has been under contract for two years. He will do well for Los Angeles, but the fight for the Rams will keep the talent around him.
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