Have NFL analysts discounted the LA Rams too much?

The LA Rams will not begin the 2023 NFL season healthy. In fact, this feels an awful lot like Deja vu all over again, doesn't it? With the recent news of the LA Rams' top offensive weapon, WR Cooper Kupp, sitting out Week 1 and perhaps even landing on IR, the Rams' hopes of avoiding injuries have already failed even before the team has snapped a single snap in a football game.

But he dents and dinges to the Rams roster does not stop there. The Rams backup rookie quarterback Stetson Bennett has been ruled out for Week 1 with a shoulder injury, And tight end Hunter Long, a player received when the Rams traded DB Jalen Ramsey to the Miami Dolphins, has been fighting off a Hamstring injury and has been ruled out of the Week 1 contest as well.

More: #Rams rookie QB Stetson Bennett is dealing with a shoulder injury and has also been ruled out for Sunday's game vs. Seattle.

TE Hunter Long, acquired in the Jalen Ramsey trade, has also been ruled out.

Both of those guys on top of Cooper Kupp. https://t.co/u7EurKPEQU
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) September 6, 2023

If the first step on any journey is the most important step, then the LA Rams schedule for the 2023 NFL season is going to be quite the gauntlet. While you may or may not believe in the Rams this season, NFL analysts certainly do not. An injury-ravaged Rams roster resulted in the LA Rams finishing the season with a 5-12 record, a record that tied the team as the 27th ranked team in the NFL last year.

This year, Pro Football Talk has released their 2023 NFL Power Rankings. and they already predict that the Rams will finish the 2023 NFL season worse than 2022:

Power rankings are BACK‼️

Where did your team land in the Week 1 power rankings from Pro Football Talk?! 👀 pic.twitter.com/VEAvLgj6wm
— Sunday Night Football on NBC (@SNFonNBC) September 5, 2023

While that bodes well for the Rams draft picks entering the 2024 NFL Draft, I do not think that it is a likely outcome. The Rams benched nearly all meaningful starters halfway into the 2022 NFL season, and the team threw a quarterback who just got off the plane under center and behind a patchwork offensive line.

And that banged up team won two games.

I cannot see the LA Rams losing fewer than five games this season, even without WR Cooper Kupp on the football field to start this season. But apparently, PFT analysts can. Well, if the Rams do end the season as the 29th-ranked team, that means that they will have the third overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft.

The plot thickens for LA Rams, the 2024 NFL Draft and QB Caleb Williams. dark. Trending. Rams Caleb Williams plot thickens

But don't count on that just yet.

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