Breaking down the LA Rams roster and 2023 season in these 3 words

Who can best describe the LA Rams roster as it now stands, and in the process lay out the groundwork of realistic expectations for the 2023 NFL season? That's a very good question, because until the 2023 NFL Draft happened, the LA Rams were at less than 50 percent strength for their 90-man training camp roster. Even now, the Rams still have a number of open roster spots.

If you want to know why the LA Rams did not sign any veterans, you need only check out the recap of the Rams' financial situation by checking out Spotrac.com. The first site shows that after adding enough players to increase their roster to 72 players, the team has under $5 million of 2023 salary cap space to work with. The second site shows that the Rams focused heavily upon the after-draft market for rookie free agents because they could be signed to the roster for $750,000, an amount that would not trigger their 51-man salary cap limit.

But the Rams have over $12.5 million of drafted rookies in 14 players to absorb in the 51-man limit and will exchange that with $11 million of the lowest 14 players' salaries currently integrated into the calculation. So the Rams will enter the 2023 NFL season with next to nothing in terms of a buffer to add additional players in case this team incurs injuries and needs to reinforce the roster. Keep in mind that when the team pares down to 53 players, all 53 will factor into the Rams' 2023 salary cap calculation. We will discuss in the future how that could impact the team's roster decisions.

Rams roster is as good as it gets

For now, the point exists only to tamper expectations for the Rams to go on a midnight shopping run among the remaining NFL veteran free agents. After all of the pain of parting ways with veteran players who clearly had plenty to contribute to the team in the foreseeable future, I don't see the Rams negating all of that work for a chance to perhaps land an uncertain future for another NFL veteran player. Even to shop at the bottom shelf of veterans means that this team would need to push 2023 dollars into 2024 and beyond, something I believe the team is adamant about not doing.

So for now, let's just push all financial fretting aside, and retune to the task of extracting the most from the LA Rams' existing roster, or who the Rams have on the roster right now. Even as the team signs their unsigned players, the Rams may get awfully close to the salary cap limit for 53 players, but we'll save that conversation for a future date. Here are 3 keys to the Rams' 2023 NFL season.

1. Opportunity
2. Continuity
3. Durability

What we do know about the LA Rams team is the fact that the Rams are trying to get back to basics. So what does that mean for this team and the Rams' upcoming season? Let's break it down: