LA Rams ground game appears to be under construction

Curiously, the Rams are linking TEs and RBs in 2022

When the LA Rams reported the transition of former Running Backs Coach Thomas Brown to their Tight Ends Coach, my initial impression was simple. The LA Rams are giving one of their highly respected positional coaches a more well-rounded coaching portfolio by embedding him in one of the passing weapon positional coaching roles.

What a great team to compromise seeking someone with more experience with the position to bolster the career of a positional coach who, if the trend continues, will likely hire on with a new team in a year or two to accept a much higher paying role. But then, after a bit of thinking, a new reason for the internal promotion occurred.

The LA Rams struggled mightily to replace the TE2 role of Johnny Mundt when he fell to injury in 2021. And historically, Mundt had been used in all sorts of ways and in many formations. Is the promotion of Thomas Brown also to enhance the ability of the LA Rams tight ends to fill that versatile role that Mundt seemed to master in recent years?

The more I think about it, the more sense it all makes in many ways. The Rams’ ground game struggled without Mundt, which forced the offense to reconfigure playing jumbo packages with six offensive linemen at times.  But with Brown coaching tight ends, the team will be able to work those players into some backfield-related drills and training.  Meanwhile, the introduction of Ra’Shaad Samples, who also has some experience in using a similarly versatile player to block and play out of the backfield, reinforces that aspect of the Rams’ offense.

I’m not saying that Brown’s role in coaching tight ends is to pave the way for Kendall Blanton to line up in the backfield in 2022. But, since he will be coaching tight ends, I really won’t be surprised if that is one of the results.