LA Rams injured players can have huge impact on 2022 season success

Forged through adversity

Perhaps I will not do it justice by revisiting past and present injuries, so bear with me. The point I want to cover is that the LA Rams may have won Super Bowl LVI, but that there is far more capacity in the LA Rams’ roster than what they showed through the 2021 season.

Health plays a far larger role in the outcome of any given NFL season than we give enough credit to. While the LA Rams are not immune to injuries, the front office is one of the best at proactively filling roster needs created throughout the season by injuries.

Let’s illustrate just how decimating the injuries were to the team in 2022, and even carrying over into 2022. Few talked about it. TV broadcasters seldom mentioned it. The LA Rams were decimated by injuries in 2021. Top-heavy Rams roster?  That only explains so much about the team. In the end, the Rams players managed to play through injuries, or the team found ways to identify other players to step up.

LA Rams’ trauma-21

Here are the injured players from 2021/22:

• Player                        Position              Injury

1. Jalen Ramsey           DB                        Both shoulders
2. Tyler Higbee             TE                          Knee
3. Leonard Floyd          OLB                      Ankle
4. Cam Akers                 RB                        Achilles Tendon
5. Matthew Stafford   QB                        Elbow
6. Tutu Atwell                WR                       Shoulder
7. Darrell Henderson   RB                        Soft Tissue
8. Kyren Williams         RB                         Foot
9. Jacob Harris              TE/WR                 Knee
10. Robert Woods          WR                        Knee
11. Kendall Blanton       TE                          Shoulder
12. Brian Allen                 C                            Elbow/Knee
13. Xavier Jones              RB                         Achilles Tendon
14. Raymond Calais       RB                         Foot
15. Jordan Fuller              DB                         Ankle
16. Robert Rochell         DB                          Rib injury
17. Justin Hollins            OLB                        Pectoral muscle
18. Terrell Lewis             OLB                        Back/knee
19. Odell Becham Jr.      WR                         Knee
20. Johnny Mundt          TE                           Knee
21. Taylor Rapp               DB                          Concussion

And still, the LA Rams won Super Bowl LVI.

The injuries at outside linebacker compelled the Rams front office to trade for veteran OLB Von Miller. The Rams roster was dangerously thin at running back, so the Rams front office traded for veteran RB Sony Michel. The Rams roster was already getting thin at wide receiver when the team signed free agent WR Odell Beckham Jr., and then additional injuries struck, forcing OBJ into service before he knew the Rams offense.