Are The St. Louis Rams Headed Into A Building Year?

After two seven win seasons and a six win season there is no question there is a lot of pressure on head coach Jeff Fisher and the St. Louis Rams to take the next step and make a playoff run. After years of 2, 3, and one win years under Steve Spagnuolo and now three years of mediocrity, to say the least, fans are ready to win, and they’re ready to win now.

However, by the way the Rams drafted and the way that this season is shaping up, it feels as if this year may go the complete opposite. Yes, the Rams have a potentially elite defense and acquired a quarterback that can hopefully stay healthy for an entire season, but this team is still missing key pieces. After three years in the Jeff Fisher era, this is still a team that is built to win for the future rather than right now.

To expect the Rams to compete with at the very least two rookies starting on the offensive line and that doesn’t include Greg Robinson who will be in only his second year is unrealistic. These players will need time to grow.

They drafted Rob Havenstein who could be a mauler up front. The drafted Jamon Brown who is a big guy that they can plug inside, but played at tackle at Louisville. Certainly he will need time to learn the position.

As mentioned above, its unrealistic to expect these players to come in and dominate right away and thats if they pan out. The Rams drafted developmental players that are going to need time to learn the game.

Winning in the NFL starts up front, and the Rams simply aren’t ready to win up front, at least on the offensive side of the ball. The Rams have struggled to compete with the defensive lines of Arizona, Seattle, and San Francisco over the past two years because of the weak offensive line.

Snead and Fisher made steps to fix that, but unlike when they signed Jake Long in the offseason a couple of years ago, this won’t be an immediate fix. This product is going to be something that takes this year and maybe another year until its ready.

The examples above are all on the offensive line, but even look at the Rams’ first round pick Todd Gurley. This is a player that may not be ready to play right away, but yet Fisher has called him the running back of the future. By the sounds of it, the Rams have no intention to win right now.

“This is the running back of our future. It makes no sense to put him in a bad situation sooner than we have to.”-Jeff Fisher

As much as some, including myself, dont want to hear it, the Rams are heading into a building year. That doesn’t mean that they will have another season in which they win two or three games and end up with the number one overall pick. No, this team is better than that. The defense alone will win them games.

Jeff Fisher’s worst seasons in the NFL were in 2004 and 2005 and even then his teams won four and five games and then were back on the mediocre trail in 2006 winning eight games.

It is imminent that the Rams are headed into a building year in 2015. While they have veteran leadership on defense, that is something they are missing on the offensive side of the ball where they are very young.

Fans are ready for the Rams to take the next step, but by the way things are shaping out, it looks like that may have to wait until 2016 or 2017.

Next: St. Louis Rams Plan To Start Two Rookies On Offensive Line

Are The St. Louis Rams Headed Into A Building Year?

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