Where do the LA Rams stand now in the NFC West

Los Angeles Rams

The LA Rams enter the 2022 season as the defending Super Bowl Champions and thus now have the largest target on their back.  No doubt the Rams will get every team’s best shot and they will have to bring it every week.  I believe they can and will defend their division title; however, they are not without questions of their own.

There is still the matter of free agent wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr, who is still a free agent but also rehabbing from the ACL tear he suffered during the Super Bowl.  Will he resign with the Rams or go elsewhere?  What about the loss of OLB Von Miller to free agency and trading away WR Robert Woods?  Miller signed a free-agent deal with the Buffalo Bills and Robert Woods was traded to the Tennessee Titans this off-season.  The LA Rams did sign veteran WR Allen Robinson and veteran ILB Bobby Wagner to help bolster their respective position groups.

The question for me is primarily at the wide receiver position.  Even though they did not seem to miss a beat when Woods went down with an ACL injury of his own, that loss was supplanted with the addition of OBJ.  Now OBJ is out, whether permanently or for a portion of the season, Robinson is an unknown.  What we do know about Robinson is he’s a solid wide receiver that has had some good seasons, albeit with mediocre quarterbacks at best.

That said though, will he mesh with his wide receiver teammates and develop chemistry with veteran quarterback Matthew Stafford?  Will his play translate well with Coach McVay’s offensive philosophy?  Perhaps he should join Stafford and Cooper Kupp for breakfast throughout the remainder of the off-season.

I do believe the LA Rams will still be one of, if not the dominant team in the NFC in 2022.  The competition in the NFC, let alone their division, appears to have regressed in the offseason with many of the NFC stars signing with AFC teams.  That is just the start, as teams must now incorporate all of their new players into a cohesive strategy for the 2022 NFL season.

The LA Rams are poised to defend their title, despite some key losses, and have done well to bring in players to help replace those losses.  That forces me to conclude that the LA Rams will once again sit alone on top of the NFC West in 2022.