LA Rams hire new Special Teams Coordinator John Bonamego

Bonamego’s impact on 2020 LA Rams

So now let’s look at how John Bonamego will impact the LA Rams in 2020. In a word? WOW! Improvements will likely show up across the board. Reviewing the Football Outsiders’ special teams ranking for 2019, the Detroit Lions scored better than the LA Rams in virtually all categories.

Those categories include overall special teams impact, field goal/extra point rank, kickoff, kickoff return, punt, punt return, hidden points (intangible effect of special team play), weather, and overall value-added effect. That seems to be a very comprehensive list. But do Football Outsiders know what they’re talking about?

Just to test their ranking, I pulled the LA Rams overall special team ranking for 2016 through 2019.  Here are those results:

2016 – ranked 3rd
2017–  ranked 2nd
2018 – ranked 18th
2019 – ranked 26th

That ranking aligns almost perfectly with everything I’ve known about the Rams special teams over the past four seasons.  So that seems to check out 100 percent.

Typically coaching changes most dramatically and positive impact occurs within the first two seasons.  That is most likely due to the team learning new techniques, strategies, and philosophy while still retaining the best of the previous coaching staff.