Rams three greatest liabilities in 2017 aren’t hard to miss

At some point in the 2017 NFL season, the Los Angeles Rams will be faced with some potential liabilities that aren’t unknown to them right now. That said, fixing them is easier said than done.

Los Angeles Rams fans will have a lot to look forward to when the wrap comes off the 2017 season. In a year featuring a young group of receivers and pass catchers at tight end, a running back looking for redemption, and a first overall pick at quarterback still needing to figure it out, the pessimist might have a long list of, “oh no” on game day. That’s fair given the team’s current state. Three areas of concern that will present as liabilities won’t be hard to miss, and even harder to ignore.

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1. Rams running attack.
2. Questions at quarterback.
3. Late season defensive fatigue.

All three are in order and tandem to one another in that as one goes, so goes the other. If they all click, Los Angeles might have something special. Should one, two, or all three go south, then Rams fans will endure an agonizing repeat of a 2016 they’d sooner forget.

First, the Los Angeles running game can’t be a stagnant entity. It needs to be productive. Further, its success relies first and foremost on would be star Todd Gurley. As I, and many others have written and opined, Gurley’s first season in LA was a disaster. He was the one player Jeff Fisher could not afford to have falter. Case Keenum, and then rookie Jared Goff paid a high price for a running back who couldn’t get it going.

If Sean McVay is going to have ANY hope of propping up and buying some time for a young quarterback to develop, Gurley, and former Cowboy Lance Dunbar will need to produce.

That brings us to the pink elephant in the room: quarterback. The depth chart in Los Angeles is frighteningly thin at the moment, and the Rams brain trust seems unwilling, at least at this time, to troll for a veteran backup for two guys who have little experience and ZERO wins.

Hey, let’s not fool ourselves, this is by design.

2017 is about finding out who and what Jared Goff can be. McVay & Co. are fine with a “ride or die” mentality where the former No. 1 is concerned. Like I wrote this weekend, GM Les Snead owns the Goff deal, not McVay.

What makes the stark reality at quarterback all the more interesting, is the remarkable impact it can have on the Rams defense.

As the season wore on last year, and as losses mounted, the Los Angeles defense suffered. It’s undeniable that the “on field training” the organization relented to when they put Goff on the field was a signal that the season was all but over.

Nowhere was that felt more than with Aaron Donald and the Rams defense. The offense had digressed to the point where they themselves WERE the primary liability to an overtaxed group of defenders.

That can’t be allowed to replay this year.

As I said at the outset, as the Rams running game goes, so goes either Goff or Sean Mannion, and ultimately, the Los Angeles defense.

It isn’t rocket science, just a matter of fact in LA.

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As the good feelz of the draft and OTA’s wear off, the Los Angeles Rams still have tough questions to answer, and some liabilities that aren’t just hard to ignore, but perhaps to overcome.

Eventually, the bill comes due.

In Los Angeles, it’s long past due.