LA Rams coaches skipping NFL Combine to plan 2020 miracle

The LA Rams coaching staff will virtually skip the entire NFL Combine to develop a miraculous plan to restore the team’s fortunes in 2020

The LA Rams coaching staff seem to be frantically searching for answers right now. Well, maybe just THE answer.  To place this into a similar theatrical context, they are the equivalent of the cast of Monty Python and they are in search of the proverbial Holy Grail right now. We had recently written an article suggesting Rams general manager Les Snead needs either a miracle or simply to bite the bullet on bad contracts in 2020.  The Rams coaching staff are looking for that miracle for Les Snead.

I’m referring to a coaching action plan which will simultaneously jump-start the careers of WR Brandin Cooks, RB Todd Gurley, QB Jared Goff, and RT Rob Havenstein, plus plug the roster holes on defense in the face of losing four starters to the 2020 NFL Free Agency market, establish their 2020 NFL Draft Big Board, create sufficient roster depth and create contingency plans in case any of the previously mentioned actions plans fail.

Quite the homework assignment for three new NFL coordinators, isn’t it?  So much to do, so little time. But let’s not overdramatize this. Each of the new coordinators discussed their component of a team’s action plan during their interview.  We know from the recent press conference that head coach Sean McVay had lengthy conversations with new offensive coordinator, Kevin O’Connell, about game managing, offensive playbooks, and play-calling specifically to each week’s opponent.

At the same press conference, new defensive coordinator Brandon Staley gave a brief synapse as to how he would optimize the Rams’ defensive players during his interview. Of course, that is all relative, as the Rams have four defensive starters with expired contracts. Likewise, special teams coordinator John Bonamego discussed how he would integrate his management style with long-time Rams’ special teams’ players by opening regular lines of communication with each player.

Rams list of To-Dos

All in all,  the Rams ended the 2019 NFL season with an action list of “gotta do’s” which aimed diagnosing what went wrong in 2019 and corrective actions, who the Rams must prioritize in the 2020 Free Agency market, what the Rams 2020 NFL Big Board looks like, and how the Rams can cohesively work together to improve the team’s fortunes in 2020.

This is no different in many ways than any other year, with two critically important exceptions: the Rams are handicapped with insufficient available salary cap funds to afford top-paid players, nor does the team has just six NFL draft picks, including no first-round pick, in the 2020 NFL Draft, and perhaps even more importantly, the Rams coaching staff has just made introductions.

So the first order of business is to build a coaching team.  That means working together, almost exclusively, this first season together. With the 2020 NFL Scouting Combine coming up, the Rams are taking steps to ensure their coaching staff remains focused on the task at hand. In short, they are staying in Los Angeles:

And much like the Vatican Cardinals electing a new Pontiff, they won’t surface until the job is done and white smoke appears from the chimney.

Solving Rams’ 2020 season is complicated

If the LA Rams ended the 2019 season with a set-in-stone action plan for 2020, there would likely be some reportable progress already headlining national sports news media.  So what concrete knowledge do we have as of today?

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Well, any organization starts a review by highlighting the areas of strength, so let’s go there as well. The Rams had some areas of solid play in 2019 and can expect the team to do even better in 2020.  On offense, the Rams receiving corps was solid, boasting two 1000 yards receivers in Cooper Kupp and Robert Woods.  TEs Tyler Higbee and Gerald Everett added their own bit of reception magic, combining in the 2019 season for over 1300 yards and 5 TDs.

The defense was led once again by All-Pro defensive tackle Aaron Donald. Behind him, the Rams have a solid group of young defensive backs who are poised to lead the NFL in pass defense – including recently acquired CB Jalen Ramsey. So the team has strengths.

But the question marks over the offense hangs over the quarterback, the running backs, WR Brandin Cooks, and most of all, the entire offensive line.  Question marks over the defense are the run defense, replacing the potential loss of so many free agents, depth, and helping out star defensive lineman Aaron Donald. Huge questions that require a consensus solution. Why? Solving one question mark impacts the options for other moves.

Setting salary budget early crucial

Of course, the LA Rams are somewhat sketchy about some very important details, starting with the amount of available salary-cap space the team will have this off-season.  Per the latest estimates from Spotrac.com, on February 20, 2020, the LA Rams have an estimated $23,287,389 of free salary cap space to work with. From that amount, set aside approximately $7 million for the teams incoming 2020 NFL Draft rookies and UDFAs who will round out the roster.

Now the team has an estimated $16,300,000 to spend in free agency. Right now, the Rams would need to commit at least half that amount to re-sign Andrew Whitworth. With under $10 million dollars remaining, the Rams will not have many options to add via free agency.

So it falls to the front office to negotiate existing contracts to free up salary-cap space.  To truly have any impact in free agency, the Rams will need a minimum of $30 million to truly address some roster needs in 2020.

If the Rams cannot achieve that salary buffer, then the team will likely opt-out of most of the free agency altogether, and instead focus on players with minimal salary cap impacts but who have the raw skills to coach up this season.  In essence, the Rams are looking at players few teams want but the Rams believe they can coach up.

How do you coach that?

Practically anything is coachable in the NFL. So let’s break down the list, just like the Rams coaching staff would be forced to do. This off-season, the LA Rams coaching staff are likely identifying their off-season objectives. The list will look something like this:

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I – Restore Jare Goff to pro-bowl form.  That will require making him comfortable in the pocket, ensuring he has a solid running game, and giving him high percentage passes to complete.
Which leads to:

II- Improve the offensive line.  The offensive line needs to create a better quarterback pocket. Better competition in training camp. Emphasize pass blocking fundamentals. Expand maximum protection plays – 2 tight end sets, optional fullback. Work run-pass option plays

III – Run Pass option – Create better running play distribution. Create more pass options on first and second downs.  Improve running back Todd Gurley’s yards-per-carry average. Increase the number of carries for running back Darrell Henderson. Help defense by winning the majority of games time of possession battle.

IV- Optimize defense – Better competition in training camp. Emphasize versatile productive defenders in the draft. Create better opportunities for defensive linemen Aaron Donald to win at the line of scrimmage. Disguise defensive coverages.

V -Be a top 5 pass defense – The LA Rams were the 12th rated pass defense in 2019. Now with the addition of cornerback Jalen Ramsey, the emergence of cornerbacks Troy Hill, David  Long Jr., Nickell Robey-Coleman, and the tandem of safeties John Johnson III and Taylor Rapp, the Rams should be within reach of a top-five pass defense

VI – Improve upon defending the run – The LA Rams were the 19th rated run defense in 2019. In the face of NFC West offense leaning heavily upon running the ball, the Rams need to improve their run defense to counter the rival teams’ offenses.

They’ve only just begun

The work for the LA Rams coaching staff is just getting started. While Les Snead and the team’s scouting staff work tirelessly to identify the best prospects for the 2020 NFL Draft, head coach Sean McVay and his staff work upon that shopping list. But the work doesn’t stop there.

While the coaches work to prioritize team needs (and there will be quite a few this off-season), the coaches are setting objectives for the new NFL season and then breaking down what the team needs to do in order to accomplish each goal.

As you may gather from our sample list, goals are interrelated, both simple and complex. But it’s a list of goals agreed upon by a group of coaches, virtual strangers, who are working together for the first time. Each coordinator realistically competes with the other for limited draft picks, limited salary cap, and limited time to bring this all together.

Of course, much of the planning for today is the overall planning phase. Until the Rams coaching staff knows how the roster shakes out, most of the work for today is guidelines and generalities. It’s not until the roster is set that the coaches can reconvene and lay details to the guidelines they are establishing now.

The greatest message right now is not that the Rams need to find ways to buy free agents. It’s not even that the Rams face an uphill battle in 2020.  It’s that the Rams coaching staff is taking their work so seriously that they are skipping the annual NFL Scouting Combine to collaborate upon the 2020 NFL Season game plan. The coaching staff coming together this quickly, forced or voluntarily, will mean good things for the LA Rams this season.