These LA Rams reinvent themselves year after year

With the receding tide of the 2022 NFL Free Agency market, the LA Rams stand among the few NFL teams that didn’t do very much. Of course, the 2022 NFL Draft is just around the corner, and immediately following that will be the mad dash to sign undrafted free-agent rookies. On paper, at least, the Rams will be adding as many as 24 new faces to the roster.

Not just new players to the team, but rookies who are new to the entire NFL. That will mean 26.7 percent of the team’s initial 90-man roster will be made up of rookies. That seems like a lot of new faces, doesn’t it?

Well, that’s the only way this team refills the talent on the roster each year. Since the team does not have an abundance of early draft picks, the team relies upon larger numbers of raw prospects to compete for a spot on the roster, and even playing time.  All the while a larger number of rookies allows the coaching staff to coach them up to the NFL level of play that fans have grown accustomed to.

It all translates into turnovers. Massive turnover.

Turn the page

Did you realize that since the LA Rams competed in Super Bowl LIII, only WR Cooper Kupp, TE Tyler Higbee, OT Rob Havenstein, DT Aaron Donald, Joseph Noteboom, and IOL Brian Allen remain on the roster? That was just three NFL seasons ago, and only 11.3 percent of that Super Bowl roster remains with the team for the 2022 season?

In fractional terms, the LA Rams turned over eight-ninths of the roster over the past four iterations, or better than 22 percent turnover per year. That is 2018 through 2022. So when we focus upon a free agent or a player, you can see how few truly make a permanent difference for the team.

The LA Rams free agency has been more about departing veterans than restocking the roster over the years. So don’t despair. Since 2018, the LA Rams have been 31-18 in the regular season, as well as 5-1 in the postseason. So in terms of results? They are doing a pretty good job.

I feel a draft in the room

In the end, winning an NFL Championship is truly the effort of an entire organization. Perhaps we focus too much upon the names of the players in free agency, and not enough upon the players who are developing, and eventually starting, on this roster already.

Nearly one-fourth of the team’s onfield performance in 2022, if the trend continues, will be from the rank and file. That means that players like DB Robert Rochell, ILB Ernest Jones, TE Jacob Harris, and perhaps even DT Michael Hoecht, deserve to be discussed in the off-season as well.

The LA Rams front office will never stop trying to improve the LA Rams roster. In the meantime, we have 24 roster spots to fill, and it feels like it’s time to start paying some more attention to the 2022 NFL Draft as well as potential UDFAs.