More like them: LA Rams had just 5 players start every game

Durability is a far too underappreciated quality in the NFL. The LA Rams may have been one of the teams that undervalued that characteristic and suffered cruel and public punishment as a result. The old saying is that the best ability of any professional athlete is availability, and that was certainly the case for the LA Rams this season.

How bad was it? Pretty bad folks. Out of 44 (excluding special teams players) potential starters from the LA Rams roster, only five players started all 17 games. That is less than 12 percent (11.364 percent) of the team’s starters who were dependable enough to suit up for all 17 games.

And it’s no surprise that the five players were five of the best performers on the team this season. They are:

The struggle with the LA Rams through the 2022 NFL season is pretty simple. The LA Rams limped out of their Super Bowl LVI victory on February 13, 2022.  The team regrouped on July 23, 2022, to embark on the LA Rams’ annual training camp. And the team took to the football field to compete in their first game on September 8, 2022.

Rams rushed into 2022

If you recall, the Rams training camp stories were as much about who was too injured to participate as it was about the performances of players.

The Rams took up the yolk of 2022 with what appeared to be the presumption of not changing anything and riding the same wave of success in the 2022 season that helped this team win nine of their final 10 games last year.  Unfortunately, defensive coordinators used the offseason to diagnose the Rams’ offense, and develop effective strategies to ground the LA Rams’ impressive aerial assault.

The Rams roster needs durability

Players fell to injuries. The offense failed to score points. The team fell time and time again to their opponent. But through it all, the Rams coaching staff really didn’t have a chance to adapt, as the Rams roster never seemed to have the same starters week to week.

Burn out? Who wouldn’t be spent after a grueling six-month gauntlet of trying to recreate an offense on a weekly basis due to the fact that the team never had the same players returning?

Durability. It very well may be a far too underappreciated quality in the NFL. But I’m hopeful that the LA Rams have gotten the message, and will emphasize durability as the team reassembles the roster for 2023.