LA Rams GM Les Snead confirms what we have all suspected all along

The LA Rams did not rebuild the defense around new defensive coordinator Chris Shula initially. That work began after the 2022 NFL season as the team realized that their time remaining with All-Pro defensive lineman Aaron Donald was coming to an end. It was both a revelation to the Rams front office, and a work order.

The Rams front office understood that Donald's imminent absence would force the team to go cold-turkey from relying on him to make key plays on defense. Without him on the football field, the defense had to have a new strategy built around optimizing new players. The effort to begin stocking the defense for that scenario began in 2023.

The 2024 NFL Draft was merely the second chapter of the effort.

As Los Angeles Rams General Manager explained on the Jim Rome podcast (see below), the team was comfortable commiting to veteran players on the offensive side of the football. But on the defensive side of the ball, the team had to go heavy with young players, perhaps even planning to start multiple rookies, on a defense for the first year of DC Chris Shula.

Fortunately, as the Rams pivoted to create a new look defense, the team had also selected the right man for the job. Despite 2024 being his first year as the defensive coordinator for the Rams, DC Chris Shula has certainly proven to be up to the task. He inherited a defense without any All Pro players. In fact, with the exception of some free agents signed in 2024, there was not a lot of experience or name recognition up and down the defensive roster.

But that would all change this season.

The team's interest in loading up on the defensive side of the football in both the 2023 and 2024 NFL Drafts was no accident or coincidence. The front office wanted to restock the defense with young players to avoid the challenge of veterans who waited for Aaron Donald to make the play. It took the defensive line time to gel, but 16 quarterback sacks in two postseason games is dramatic evidence that they have found their stride.

The team understood that Aaron Donald's time was drawing to a close, and began the painful process of building the new defense in 2023, in Donald's last year. Is the same scenario now playing out around QB Matthew Stafford?

Stay tuned. And as always, thank you for reading.

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