3 reasons why the LA Rams must be No Julio

No chemistry

Do you want to know the quickest way to ruin a team? Ruin its chemistry. How do you do that? Trade for NFL stars or sign NFL star free agents, throw them into a room and hope that they all get along. I get it. Everyone wants stars. Every fan of each NFL team wants All-Pro players manning each position.  But, that’s not really how it works.

Even free agent quarterback Tom Brady had developed years of working with TE Rob Gronkowski before reuniting with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. And the Bucs offense was already loaded with some of the best receivers in the NFL. They simply needed a quarterback who would not give the ball away so generously in the form of drive-killing interceptions.  And the success of the Bucs to win a Super Bowl just one year after signing Brady may have been the catalyst for the Rams to trade for Stafford.

Now, the Rams know that it’s a race against time to get Stafford comfortable and on the same page with his new receivers and to get all of the Rams receivers comfortable and on the same page with the team’s new quarterback.  Here again, cue the Ringo Starr music: ‘It don’t come easy. You know, it don’t come easy.‘

Tossing Julio Jones into the mix creates a flashpoint in the locker room.  The quarterback and receivers will delay their cross interactions as everyone focuses upon welcoming the ex-Falcon to the roster. And there lies the rub. Stafford will turn to the other ‘new guy’ at the risk of alienating the Rams veteran receivers.  The other receivers will turn to Julio out of courtesy, which places working out the synchronization with the new quarterback on hold.

Just chalk it up to a great conversation, and leave it at that. The LA Rams must be ‘No Julio!’ to win in 2021. That’s just the way it is.