LA Rams decision to stay home at Combine proves beneficial

LA Rams decision to stay home during the NFL Scouting Combine proves beneficial

While the 32 teams from the NFL invaded Indianapolis, Indiana on the annual pilgrimage to the NFL Scouting Combine, two NFL teams decided it would be wiser to keep some of the coaches behind. Those two teams were the Denver Broncos, and the LA Rams. While both teams arrived at the same decision, the teams had differing reasons for doing so.

The Denver Broncos decision was made by head coach Vic Fangio, who felt that sending both the coaching staff and personnel staff to the same event was a bit of superfluous redundancy, and he opted to keep key coaches in Denver on a trial-run basis.  Fangio felt the Broncos would be wasting time and money by the typical networking and socializing that takes place at such an annual event.

Behind schedule

The LA Rams borrowed that idea, as the team had just hired his outside linebacker coach, Brandon Staley, to be the Rams’ new defensive coordinator.  When Staley shared the idea with Rams head coach Sean McVay, McVay enthusiastically embraced the idea. After all, the organization had vetted their hiring decisions patiently, deliberately, and thoroughly. While that resulted in hiring three valuable candidates, the Rams fell behind their schedule in preparing for the 2020 season.

The Rams faced an off-season fraught with significant decisions that would carry an impact well into the future. The teams faced the decisions over what to do about RB Todd Gurley, WR Brandin Cooks, and QB Jared Goff.  At the same time, the team faced the NFL Free Agency market with the likelihood of losing 18 players, while only having enough money to realistically hope to re-sign two at most. Finally, the team had a long shopping list and a limited number of draft picks.