LA Rams: One last-minute peek at the upcoming calendar

In just a mere 48 hours the NFL is set to release the full 2021 schedule, at long last revealing when the LA Rams will play their opponents for the upcoming season.

We know who the Rams play, we just don’t know when or where. The Rams will face NFC West Division rivals both home and away. They are the Arizona Cardinals, the San Francisco 49ers, and the Seattle Seahawks. The remaining six road opponents include the Green Bay Packers, Minnesota Vikings, New York Giants, Houston Texans, Indianapolis Colts, and Baltimore Ravens. The Rams’ five additional home games include the Detroit Lions, Chicago Bears, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Jacksonville Jaguars, and Tennessee Titans.

And we will find out all of the particulars of the Rams’ schedule on the NFL’s official schedule release, which takes place in a televised special on Wednesday, May 12th (5:00 pm PT, ESPN2 and NFL Network). Rams’ quarterback Matthew Stafford is scheduled to be one of the featured guests on that broadcast as well.

(The NFL has learned it can monetize any NFL football-related event, thanks to the popularity of the NFL draft and its monster television ratings this year). Per a league release, the 2021 NFL draft was seen by an average audience of 6.1 million viewers for all three days of the event,

Ka-ching, all the way around.

What we’ll learn

Besides, I’m itching to learn when that new 17th game on the schedule, to be played against the Baltimore Ravens, falls on their schedule? There’s no guarantee it will fall as the 17th game. It could just as easily be their first matchup of the new season.

We shall find all this out on Wednesday.

Let’s settle the smack talk between Marcus Peters and the Rams organization he felt “disrespected him” when it traded him for a bag of chips and some ketchup packets once and for all.

We also know this much – the Rams will have the 10th toughest schedule of all 32 teams, as based on their own record last season, and the strength of their scheduled opponents’ records, based on the teams’ strength of schedule (SOS) listing.  (Pittsburgh has the toughest and the Philadelphia Eagles have the easiest schedules.)

There are a few other important upcoming dates on the Rams calendar as well:

Here is the Rams’ training schedule, according to an NFL release:

OTA offseason workouts: May 24-25, May 27, June 1-3, June 7-10
Editor’s note: The LA Rams’ players have officially opted out of voluntary OTA’s
Rookie minicamp: May 14-16
Mandatory minicamp: June 15-17

Now, since the Rams’ players have voted to not participate in OTAs this year, that date doesn’t mean a whole lot, except for its notable absence and what that means – that much less opportunity for head-to-head position competition, player development, and time to get coached up and brought up to speed.

To learn the Rams’ clubhouse culture, learn the ropes, and fit in, particularly for the new crop of draftees. And perhaps the time is even more critical for the undrafted free agents the Rams have signed.

Technically, when players must report is that June 15-17 window for mandatory mini-camp.