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For second consecutive season, LA Rams betting on youth to win games

It's a fountain of youth when it comes to the 2024 Rams roster, again.

ByBret Stuter|
Los Angeles Rams Minicamp, Cooper Kupp, Matthew Stafford
Los Angeles Rams Minicamp, Cooper Kupp, Matthew Stafford | Jayne Kamin-Oncea/GettyImages

For many years, the LA Rams banked on paying elite All-Pro players to lead the team and then rounded out the majority of the roster with less expensive options at rotational and backup roles. That strategy held some inherent risks, but the hope was to get a full season out of the elite players on the roster and get enough production out of the rest of the roster to earn a berth in the NFL Playoffs.

You cannot argue with the success of that strategy.

But the tem has gone through a bit of a transformation of late, specifically during and after the 2022 NFL season. At that time. the team's injury rate hit a critical mass, crippling the Rams roster and forcing the team to shed highly compensated players in a fast-track effort to restock the roster.

The results of adding 15 rookies to the roster in 2023 were not only therapeutic for the future financial fitness of the team, but the young roster was able to win 10 games, seven victories coming after a Week 10 BYE.

So young does not mean inexperienced or incapable at all.

Philly Voice staff writer Jimmy Kempski calculates the average age of each NFL team upon the release of their initial 53-man roster, and this year was no exception. And for the second consecutive season, the LA Rams fall into the position of second-youngest NFL team, right behind the Green Bay Packers.

  1. Packers: 24.96
  2. Rams: 25.45
  3. Buccaneers: 25.45
  4. Chiefs: 25.46
  5. Jaguars: 25.51
  6. Eagles: 25.6
  7. Chargers: 25.65
  8. Giants: 25.70
  9. Lions: 25.73
  10. Broncos: 25.76

It's quite likely that had the Rams drafted in a traditional fashion, that this team would be much younger. But the age of rookies selected to not discourage the team from selecting them. OLB Byron Young enters his second NFL season, but is 26 years old. Backup QB Stetson Bennett enters his second season as well, and the first with the team, but he is nearly 27 years old. For comparison purposes, WR Puka Nacua is entering his second season, but he has just turned 23 years of age.

With age comes wisdom. But the Rams are willing to entrust their coaching staff with injusing the proper techniques and decisions needed to compete in the NFL.

It worked wonders in 2023. Let's hope it does so this season as well. Thanks for reading.

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