LA Rams likely targeting 2024 NFL Draft for next starting QB

The LA Rams had an unexpected wake up call throughout the 2022 NFL season. It was not an error, per se, but perhaps simply a reminder that all good things must come to an end. The LA Rams finished the 2022 NFL season, and I do not believe that it was an injury to one player, or to an entire unit like the offensive line or the secondary.

The more I review the 2022 NFL season for the Rams, the more everything seemed . . . well, off. Starting quarterback Matthew Stafford was not only not getting the time to throw, but when he did he seemed a bit off. The Rams' offensive line was not good early in the season, but the group struggled in 2019 before the Rams flipped to primarily a 12-personnel package. But no shift was forthcoming in 2022.

IR and roster depth were huge problems in 2022

The team seemed to be sleepwalking, or simply getting very old very quickly. While the opponent made effective half-time adjustments, the Rams failed to do so, placing even the games with a solid start in peril in the second half. And then, veterans began to fall to injuries. Not just one, but nearly all but DB Jalen Ramsey and ILB Bobby Wagner.

Those injuries were amplified by the LA Rams struggles on the football field. After all, there was no chance that any of the Rams stars would be back to finish out the season that was already mathematically lost to any hope of postseason. But the NFL rule changes, one that limited a team's opportunities to restore a player to the active 53-man roster to just eight transactions, was exhausted by the Rams injury plagued roster by the mid-season mark.

Further compounding the collapse were questionable decisions thoughout the season. The Rams signed veteran offensive linemen Oday Aboushi and Matt Skura, but opted to start OL Bobby Evans and Jeremiah Kolone. Evans never established himself as a viable option at the interior offensive line position, and Kolone was not prepared to start in an NFL game at the center position. By the time the Rams coaches sorted all of that out, Matthew Stafford was on the bench with injuries.