McVay's perspective on 'run variety' opens the floodgates to optimize offense

When it comes to the LA Rams offensive personnel in 2024, let's ink a few player descriptions. After all, the team has a 'fit' in terms of the type of players who succeed in this offense. If they fit certain body dimensions, they stick around. If they exceed or fall short of those body dimensions, even if they are productive on the football field, they never seem to play beyond a season or two.

And it's been a matter of wash, rinse, and repeat for some time

At running back: The Rams love players who stand 5-foot-9 and weigh from 200 to 215 pounds. Of course, if you are 5-foot-8, you might succeed if you are on the heavier end of the weight range. If you are under 200 pounds, you can fill a backup role.

At tight end: This offense loves tight ends who stand from 6-foot-5 to 6-foot-7. And if they tip the scales from 250 to 265 pounds, so much the better. If a tight end is lighter than 250 pounds, they had better bring their A game to blocking drills.

At wide receiver: Not to sound as though the Rams have a cookie cutter approach to their top tier playmakers, but the wide receiver is another position in which the team boasts a narrow range of players who seem to get the lion's share of targets. The wide receiver who sticks around stands from 6-foot-1 to 6-foot-2, and tips the scales from 200 to 215 pounds.

Rams senior staff writer Stu Jackson sat down with Sean McVay and penned a doozy of an article that infuses coach comments with football field implications. I consider it a must-read reference guide to the team's offseason strategy.

"I think the biggest thing is there would be a little bit more versatility. The easy answer is to complain about the injuries that we had that threw off the continuity and while that might be true, you cannot allow that to inhibit us the way that it did. That is nobody()s responsibility but my own."

Rams Coach McVay

Two of the key comments made by Coach McVay is the reference to the versatility of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers offense, and the most stunning comments that he made that truly lit a fire in my mind as to what it might mean for the team in 2025.

"How do you utilize the offseason and how are you making yourself more versatile from a personnel perspective or from a run variety perspective? Those are the things that I am excited to be able to dive into."

Rams Coach McVay

McVay may have been emotional and frustrated with an early out of the 2025 NFL Playoffs, but this is a fully charged and motivated head coach. He has an infectious smile throughout this virtual press conference

Of course, this press conference is a reflection from Rams HC Sean McVay, a unique time-sensitive views about the team. But as the team rolls into the offseason, and begins to make the hard decisions for the 2025 NFL season. The Rams football organization knows the challenges of this offseason. The offense spent more than any other NFL team on the offense.

But the team did not get that type of production from the offense.

Changes are in store. Does that mean purely personnel changes? I fear that may be a simplistic and unrewarding strategy. The Rams need to do more in 2025 to score points. The Rams have to adapt their insistence upon their cookie cutter process of fielding offensive clones. Yes, the team has been incredibly successful at finding gems late in the draft with RB Kyren Williams and WR Puka Nacua,

Even rookie WR Jordan Whittington stands 6-foot-1 and weighs 202 pounds, a virtual match of veteran WR Demarcus Robinson. There are benefits to mixing skillsets to the offense as well. Can the Rams truly claim that they got every ounce of offense out of WR Tutu Atwell? Did the team invest wisely in signing TE Colby Parkinson and drafting RB Blake Corum, while other productive players ended up elsewhere?

'Run variety' is a phrase I've hoped to hear for several years from Coach McVay. Perhaps that phrase means something different, but I hear a need for the team to do a better job of mixing the style of runners, tight ends, and receivers in this offense next season. Two running backs? H-back? Two tight ends? The potential is there for this team to make use of personnel in completely new chapters of this offense.

It's only words right now. An untested theory. But if the Rams coaching staff is able to pull it off, the offense could be a top scorer in 2025.

As always, thanks for reading.

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