The LA Rams have 17 reasons to rebound in 2023

The drama of going from top to bottom in the NFC West Division is bad enough. But now we have to face that period of trolling for all those folks who wanted to throw shade on the LA Rams because this team found a different way to build an NFL Championship team, and they didn’t like it. That window to berate the LA Rams is open, and there are quite a few naysayers who are more than happy to take advantage by sharing all that pent-up frustration.

Picks for players? Preposterous!
Signing veterans to long-term lucrative deals? Silly!
Loading the roster with late-drafted or undrafted players? Ludicrous!

All of those prewritten narratives about the LA Rams’ unorthodox methods being short-sighted, ill-advised, absurd, and even asinine are beginning to surface once more. But pay it no heed. This team competed in Super Bowl LIII and won Super Bowl LVI.  Right now, the LA Rams have simply hit a streak of bad fortune.

Head-on collision, it seems.

The LA Rams have a health problem, first and foremost. No NFL strategy works if the team has no continuity on the offensive line. Heading into their tenth game of the NFL season, this team will field their tenth offensive line configuration of the year. While other NFL teams have an offensive line that has become a well-oiled machine, the Rams are still in preseason mode, trying to figure out which combination works best. Or even stays healthy enough to line up next week with the same five players.

17 offensive linemen = 17 reasons for a Rams rebound

As of Saturday, November 19, 2022, the LA Rams have 51 players on the team’s active roster, 10 players on injured reserve, one player on IR/Designated to Return, and 15 + 1 players on the practice squad. That means that the Rams have more slots on the roster to restore injured players. After all, eventually, these players will heal.

Right now, the LA Rams have 17 offensive linemen on their roster right now. Who exactly?

• Name                           Position               Roster           Brian Allen                  Center                  ActiveMatt Skura                  Interior OL          Active         *Oday Aboushi             Interior OL          Active         *Coleman Shelton       Interior OL          ActiveBobby Evans               OL                         ActiveRob Havenstein         OT                         ActiveTy Nsekhe                    OT                         Active        *Zach Thomas              OT                         Active        * RookieDavid Edwards           Interior OL          IR/Designated to returnLogan Bruss                OL                         IR               RookieAlaric Jackson             OL                         IRTremayne Anchrum  OL                         IRChandler Brewer       OL                         IRJoe Noteboom            OL                         IRJeremiah Kolone        Interior OL          Practice SquadA.J. Arcuri                     OL                         Practice Squad RookieMax Pircher                 OL                         Practice Squad/IPP

* Denotes player was signed after the start of the 2022 NFL season

This pattern is very similar to that of the 2019 season, a year after the LA Rams competed in Super Bowl LIII. In 2019, 20 different LA Rams players fell to injuries in some form or another. In that season, the Rams lost three offensive linemen for the season, and even players who stuck it out had to have medical procedures to prepare to return for the 2020 NFL season.

Right now, there are 17 offensive linemen on the Rams roster. While not all will return for the 2023 NFL season, many will do so. Meanwhile, the Rams coaches and front office have first-hand knowledge about all 17 players, and if they do their jobs correctly, will ensure that the best of the bunch are back in 2023.

There is a rising crescendo among LA Rams fans that the team must commit multiple draft picks to their offensive line in the 2023 NFL Draft to have any chance of success next season. I’m not so sure that is necessary. The Rams added a number of promising players to the roster this season, plus three rookies. Of that group, the Rams could emerge with one or two new starters for next season.

Plus there is the fact that veterans Tremayne Anchrum, Alaric Jackson, and Chandler Brewer all had good runs while healthy. 17 players are enough to fill all five starting offensive linemen positions three times over, plus have two spares.

No, not all will 17 players will return next season. But hopefully, the best 12-14 players will. And that is enough reason right there to expect a strong rebound from the Rams next season.