The LA Rams, like every NFL team, know that endurance is a critical element of success in this business. This year is particularly challenging, as before the NFL enters the post-season, this team will have played 17 regular-season games. More money? Yes. More risk of injury? Oh hell yeah. That could pose a problem for the way the organization has constructed this roster.
The LA Rams have three tiers on the team. The top tier is populated with a few elite players who not only are well paid but who are expected to perform at that elite level, as well as mentor other players to aid in rapid development. The middle tier is populated with 5-8 players who start, and who are veterans who can also help mentor younger players to compete for a roster spot and into the rotation. The lower tier, about two-thirds of the 53-man roster, is comprised of younger players who may have tremendous talent, but who have not yet acquired the necessary experience to master their NFL role.
Each year, the LA Rams handpick the handful or so of the lower tier who the team will extend. All others will swarm into the NFL Free Agency market, where their worth will be set by one of 31 other NFL teams interested in signing them.
Rams ecology
It’s a self-sustaining strategy of roster building. Younger players who sign elsewhere create new draft picks for the LA Rams to bring in a new rookie class to learn from the elite and veteran players, and the process renews itself for another season. Except for that one fly in the soup, injuries.
Injuries throw everything off. The left-right-left-right synchronized cadence of young inexpensive players slowly developing into NFL starters at the moment a starter goes down. Suddenly, that young player is promoted into a starting role. They can quickly earn that role like defensive back Jordan Fuller did in 20220. Or they get a shot, show indications that they are not yet ready, and be relegated to the bench. When that happens, the front office must go off script and add talent to the team, as they did in 2019 when they traded a fifth-round draft pick (2021) for IOL Austin Corbett.
Projected starting running back Cam Akers fell to a season-ending injury already. While the LA Rams believe that they have enough time and talent to compensate for his loss, the next time may not be as fortunate. Some have already suggested that more injuries are coming to this team, and due to the length of the season, they are probably correct.
For now, the LA Rans season-ending injury will be forgotten by NFL analysts by mid-season. The plans to feature Akers in this backfield will no longer headline by the opening kickoff. When football is to be played, the Rams will do so with the best efforts of their 53-best players. For us, the loss of running back for this season will remain in the back of our minds. But to most of the NFL, the injury is merely a test of the Rams’ resourcefulness, a test that all 32 teams must face this season.
Let’s hope that the Rams pass with flying colors.