3 positions LA Rams will address before the season begins

You may think that the LA Rams are done with roster moves, wouldn’t you? At least before the season kicks in and the team navigates the course that leads through training camp and into preseason games. But this is not just any ole team. These are the LA Rams, the defending Super Bowl winners, and they do things a bit differently.

We know that the team continued to make roster moves well into the 2021 NFL season, trading for a running back and outside linebacker, plus signing a punt/kickoff returner and wide receiver. Each move inched the team that much closer to winning Super Bowl LVI. Altogether, the persistence to improve the team paid off with a huge jackpot.

Having met such profound success with the strategy in 2021, you should not be surprised if the team revisits a similar approach to their 2022 Rams roster improvements. So the only question remaining is: Which positions will need a booster shot?

Outside linebacker

The LA Rams have plenty of bodies at the outside linebacker position for training camp, but not as much experience as they might desire. Veteran edge rushers not only put pressure on opposing quarterbacks, but the right outside linebacker can take the pressure off Aaron Donald and Leonard Floyd.  I like what Von Miller brought to the Rams roster in 2021, and would look for the Rams to explore another veteran off the edge for 2022.

Quarterback

The LA Rams will surely want one more quarterback to toss passes and perhaps even get some work in during preseason games. While I have lobbied the team to sign a veteran quarterback who could compete for the team’s backup role, a more likely scenario is simply that the team will sign a camp body at the position to more evenly distribute the work among four quarterbacks throughout all the passing drills in training camp.

So that feels like a solid ‘yes.’

Wide receiver

I still hold out hope that the LA Rams will find a way to reach a team-friendly agreement with veteran wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr.

The Rams want to get their best price by signing OBJ, if for no other reason than the uncertainty of when he will be able to play following a successful ACL surgery. Odell Beckham Jr., conversely, wants to sign for the optimal amount and on a contract that offers him financial security on a multi-year deal.

Both sides want the same thing. They simply have not yet found the right language and dollar amount to make it happen. I believe that the two sides will succeed in finding the middle ground necessary to re-sign to a new contract before the opening kickoff to the 2022 NFL season.