St. Louis Rams Key 2015 Offseason Dates

The 2014 NFL season is officially over. In what many Rams fans would undoubtedly have regarded as a lesser-of-two-evils matchup, the Patriots lifted the Lombardi trophy for the fourth time, preventing the Seahawks from claiming a second consecutive championship in the process. Now the dust has settled, followers of all 32 teams now face the long offseason. So how can Rams fans break up the months ahead? Here are some of the key dates that the team needs to prepare for.

March 10^th – Free agency begins

At present, the Rams are 26^th in the league in terms of salary cap space, which obviously has massive implications for the team’s ability to bring in big name veterans. However, there is the possibility for some movement. As Sean Tomlinson of Bleacher Report broke down last October, cutting Jake Long would be a huge help to the Rams’ cap situation. Getting Sam Bradford to restructure his contract (and from his point of view it’s surely a no-brainer to do so) would also give Fisher and Snead much more room to work with. With veterans becoming available in key areas (Oakland’s Stefan Wiesniewski at center and San Francisco’s Mike Iupati at guard have already been mentioned), it will greatly help the draft strategy if at least one key position of need is filled through free agency. The team also needs to consider its own soon-to-be free agents – Joe Barksdale and Kenny Britt realistically being the two men at the top of the list of those that need to be retained.

April 30^th- May 2^nd – NFL Draft

The Rams hold the 10^th overall pick in this season’s draft. In my opinion, by far the greatest need is along the offensive line. If Sam Bradford is to return from injury and stay healthy, the team cannot enter the 2015 season with Scott Wells, Davin Joseph and Jake Long protecting him. It will be interesting to see if Brandon Scherff or any of the other top prospects along the offensive line are on the board by the time the number ten pick comes around – assuming, of course, that the Rams stay at ten which is by no means a certainly given the number of trades Les Snead has gone through in the last few years. This year has the added intrigue of St Louis’ reduced chances of finding another EJ Gaines impact player in the lower rounds, having traded away the fourth and sixth round selections to acquire Mark Barron from Tampa Bay last October. Snead and Fisher had better make those early rounds count.

Late July – Training Camp

There is not much to be said about this one. No doubt the general tone of the press conferences around Earth City will be hugely favourable about how well the new players have settled in, how the returning veterans are looking better than ever and unreserved optimism for a great season ahead. In other words, exactly the same as what will be coming out of the other thirty-one training camps.

Mid August – Preseason commences

Preseason is intended to get new faces some playing time, get rookies adjusted to the NFL and fringe players on the roster to do their utmost to get ahead of the competition in order to make the final 53-man roster. It is a time for fans to look at the new additions, the result usually being some combination of “This guy is gonna be awesome” or “Why the heck did we draft him?” Last preseason’s contrast between the worries over number two overall pick Greg Robinson and the stellar performances of the undrafted Ethan Westbrooks are a prime example. For the established members of the team, it is good time to blow off the cobwebs and get back into semi-competitive football against real opposition. Players also want to stay injury-free – although that didn’t work out too well for Sam Bradford or Isiah Pead in the 2014 preseason. If the team can get their rookies a few snaps under their belt, then it’s time for the real thing…..

September 13^th (approx.) – Regular season commences

Having watched the New England Patriots play whoever the previous Thursday, the St Louis Rams will play their opening fixture of the 2015 NFL season. This year the Rams play the Chicago Bears, Detroit Lions, Cleveland Browns, Pittsburgh Steelers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers at home, whilst going on the road to the Green Bay Packers, Minnesota Vikings, Baltimore Ravens, Cincinnati Bengals and Washington Redskins – as well as both home and away divisional matches against the San Francisco 49ers, Arizona Cardinals and Seattle Seahawks. This is a mere 23^rd in the league’s schedule strength rankings. For me, it is only the road games against Seattle and Green Bay that have me really thinking ‘yikes’ – although I’m not quite ready to put my neck on the line and predict a 14-2 season!