LA Rams: 5 wish-list items for the defense in 2022

Since the LA Rams won the Super Bowl in 2021,  the 2022 NFL offseason strategy will need to be a combination of retaining talent or bringing in players that can contribute to another Super Bowl run. With the mentality that defense wins championships, the defense will be critical to repeating.

With a combination of re-signings, free agents, and draft picks, the LA Rams can use the 2022 offseason to ensure that they are ready to run it back in 2022 and ready to be competitive while the current core is together.

The front office can take an approach of reloading, rather than rebuilding, the 2022 Rams roster because they are the defending champions and have forged incredible chemistry during the 2021 NFL season. After all, the current core looks to be together as long as veteran quarterback Matthew Stafford is under center for the Rams. So, it only makes sense for the front office to view the team and roster through a three-year and five-year lens, rather than just focus on what to do with the team through the 2022 NFL season.

I wish I wish upon a star…

As a result, the wish-list for the LA Rams defense in 2022 is a combination of filling projected current holes and securing the future at other positions. The team has some lingering questions to answer at several spots on defense, but some are more immediate than others.

The LA Rams do not have any immediate ‘gotta do’s,’ to be a competitive team in 2022, but any NFL team with Super Bowl ambitions must consider and act upon every move possible to make the team as good as possible for the next few years.

All-Pro defensive lineman Aaron Donald, All-Pro defensive back Jalen Ramsey, and veteran outside linebacker Leonard Floyd are all in a position to be the stars of the present and future of the LA Rams.  We learned in 2021 that the defense will need more than the three of them to repeat.  It was the arrival of All-Pro outside linebacker Von Miller that elevated the play on defense and carried the team through the playoffs.  The front office must continue to build around the core players during the offseason.

The door is open for this team to remain atop the NFL for the next few years, so the front office needs to make decisions to maximize the team’s opportunity. It’s the old measure-twice-cut-once exercise of patience and discipline.

These five items that should appear on the LA Rams defensive wish-list will optimize the chance at winning another Super Bowl.