LA Rams special teams have nowhere to go but up in 2024, and they will.

Nobody was shocked at the 2023 Special Teams rankings, an annual exercise by NFL sports writer Rick Gosselin. If you are unfamiliar with the man, he has been associated with sports coverage for nearly 50 years. Over time, he has covered various NFL teams from various cities, finally retiring in 2019 to do his one thing. Retirement for sports writers means something completely different than the standard retirement package. Perhaps the team 'self-employed,' or 'independent contractor,' is the more appropriate term.

Each season, Gosselin ranks NFL special teams in a variety of categories. Because the manner and categories of measuring special team effectiveness can be both varied and confusing, Gosselin lists his categories of measurement that are compiled into an index that is used to grade the performance of all 32 teams.

Let's examine the categories used by Rick Gosselin in his measure of NFL special teams ranking, because special team will be the topic for this article. His categories include:

1. Kickoff returns
2. Punt returns
3. Kickoff coverage
4. Punt Coverage
5. Starting point (where the offense takes over)
6. Opponent starting point (where the defense takes over)
7. Punting - distance football travels after it leaves a punter's foot.
8. Net punting - punting distance adjusted by opponent punt return yardage
9. Inside the 20 punts
10. Opponent punting
11. Opponent net punting
12. Field goals
13. Field goal percentage
14. Opponent field goal percentage
15. Extra point percentage
16. Points scored
17. Points allowed
18. Blocked kicks
19. Opponent blocked kicks
20. Takeaways
21. Giveaways
22. Penalties

That is certainly a lot to unpack, and many categories are not readily tracked by other mainstream NFL statistics websites. But we can cite Gosselin's footnotes in each category, and then apply what we know about the Rams special teams in categories as measured by other sites to get a more well-rounded image of how well or poorly the group performed in 2023.

So let's dive in and see for ourselves, shall we?

LA Rams 2023 Special Teams

1. Where did the Rams Special Teams rank in 2023?
2. Do we really know what made the Rams special teams so bad in 2023?
3. How did the special teams fall so far so quickly?
4. Where do the Rams go from here?

Where did the Rams Special Teams rank in 2023?

While he does not elaborate on the rankings of all 32 teams in each category, we know that the LA Rams are named on his list several times, and not in a positive light. The team is listed in:

• Category 1 - Kickoff returns - Rams last (16.1 yards) vs NFL average 22.6 yards
• Category 4 - Punt Coverage - Rams last (15.5 yards) vs NFL average 9.6 yards
• Category 17 - Points allowed - Rams last (14.0 points) vs NFL average 3.4 points
• Category 19 - Opponent blocked kicks - Rams tied last (3 blocked kicks) vs NFL average 1 blocked kick

It is a foregone conclusion that any team that shows up dead last in more than three measured categories in a seasonal ranking without showing up first in any category will invariably show up at or near the bottom of the league rankings.

Let's examine how the Rams Special teams were ranked by Lineups.com for 2023. While Lineups does not aggregate statistic measures into a composite index for ranking, it does provide raw data scores in each of the following 17 categories to sort and rank individually. To help, I have listed the Rams score and ranking for each category:

1. Field goal percentage - 74.4% | 30th
2. Field goal attempts - 2.5 attempts | 1st
3. Field goals made - 1.9 made | 10th
4. Extra Point attempts - 2.2 attempts | 13th
5. Extra Point made - 1.9 made | 18th
6. Opponent Field goal attempts - 2.2 | 25th
7. Opponent Field goals made - 1.8 | 19th
8. Opponent extra point attempts - 1.9 | 13th
9. Opponent extra point made - 1.7 | 9th
10. Opponent punts - 3.8 | 21st
11. Opponent punt return yards - 29.1 | 31st
12. Opponent Kick returns - 0.6 | 8th
13. Opponent Kick return yards - 17.4 yards | 10th
14. Punt return - 1.6 yards | 23rd
15. Kickoff return - O.5 yards | 32nd
16. Punt average- 49.2 | 8th
17. Punt Net average - 44.3 yards | 3rd

As you can see, it's a bit of a mixed back for the team's special teams performances. But it also illustrates the challenge for the team's ST Coordinator Chase Blackburn. If you note areas where the Rams performed poorly, you would note that the team struggled heavily in punt coverage and kickoff returns. While we know that the Rams struggled at field goal percentage, the team was not the worst in the NFL, there is no way to discern how much that category handicapped the Rams special team ranking in 2023.

Some categories were quite embarassing. Yet, other categories were quite promising. And perhaps on an even better note, all poorly performing categories can be addressed and fixed for the 2024 NFL season. But first, let's examine how special teams fell so far so quickly.

Do we really know what made the Rams special teams so bad in 2023?

Researching contributing factors is not an easy skillset to attain. retain, or master. Many fans simply read headlines and stop there. While that allows far more opportunity to share opinions, it doesn't really afford an author a fair and objective opportunity to make his or her case. I learn every day, and try to apply that newfound data in articles to share with readers.

The LA Rams special teams were not very special in 2023. I'm sure many have read evidence that cited the Rams' special team was ranked 'dead last" by such sites as FTN Fantasy (a fantasy football site that provides tools and metrics for fantasy football GMs to use in rostering their team). However, the metric used to measure that abysmal performance is a proprietary measurement DVOA or Defense-adjusted Value Over Average. What goes into that formula? It's a bit like the secret herbs and spices for Kentucky Fried Chicken, or the recipe for Ragu spaghetti sauce. You simply have to trust the creator's insight into the measurement and trust its comparative value.

And for those fans participating in Fantasy Football, that is all they they need to be effective at setting up a Fantasy Football team lineup.

As we have witnessed if you have gotten this far, special team rankings look at different things. measure different things, and measure those things in different ways. Some sites measure all statistics with equal weight, while other sites attempt to weigh more recent statistics to give a more contemporal assessment of the team. The challenge is that many do not do the extra leg work to understand which site uses which methods. Even worse, many ignore those differences whenever explained in deep dive articles such as this one.

How did the special teams fall so far so quickly?

So here we are, dragging our special team bellies along the bottom of the ocean. The question is: How did the LA Rams roster fall so far so quickly regarding special teams? To understand that, you have to dial back the time machine to the end of the 2022 NFL season. After the 2022 season ended, the front office uniformly agreed to shed payroll expenditures. That meant not only trading or releasing highly-paid players under contract but it also meant shutting the door for the team to extend all but two players - Coleman Shelton and Marquise Brown.

That was incredibly unfortunate for the Rams' special teams because all players who specialized on special teams: K Matt Gay, P Riley Dixon, LS Matthew Orzech, and PR/KR Brandon Powell. While the headlines focused almost entirely on the loss of Gay's phenomenal field goal power and accuracy, the loss of all special team specialists simultaneously created a series of wildfires that were too numerous to address in one training camp.

We covered the likelihood of the Rams to retain ST Coordinator Chase Blackburn, and this is a great time to click on that article to understand why the team kept him for another year. To sum it all up, the team viewed the ST Coordinator role similarly to the way NFL teams afford a beachhead for a new head coach to turn things around.

The team invested the least amount of money into the special teams group in 2023. Is it really a surprise when the group finished last in the NFL in many categories? You get what you pay for, and the team set up special teams to fail in 2023 long before they took the football field.

But there is more afoot than a stingy front office. The team rifled through multiple kicks in 2023, which is never good for the overall performance. The team had to change long snappers mid season, which resulted in some setbacks in terms of special team performances. Two punts were returned for touchdowns against the Rams, which was a significant key to the poor rankings.

Where do the Rams go from here?

Despite the overwhelming data that suggests that the Rams are horrible at special teams, the fix in terms of the coaching staff and the front office is relatively simple in terms of steps to get where the team must be in 2024. The Rams do not need to claim the top spot in terms of special teams performance. In fact, the Rams do not even need to finish among the Top 5 special team groups in the NFL for 2024. But a Top 10 finish would certainly launch the Rams in the right direction for postseason competition next year. So how does the team get there from here?

Step I: Rams need better tacklers and coverage players

The qualities that make a great special teams player is not always the same as the qualities that make up a great starter or rotational player. In offense or defense, players earn playing time by hitting their marks, performing consistently, and remaining disciplined. On special teams, success can often mean flying around, being unpredictable, and making tackles. In many ways, linebackers who may not earn a rotational role on special teams are often ideally suited to flourish in coverage units and make tackles.

Step II: Rams must emphasize blocking kicks and punts

Special teams units simply did not show up on highlight reels for making great plays in 2023. Perhaps the most glaring absence is the fact that the Rams did not block a single kick or punt. While that is not an easy task, it seems that some special teams simply do a better job at blocking opposing field goals or punts than others. Perhaps that should be a focus for the Rams hire of Assistant Special Teams coach this year?

Step I: Rams need to find and use placekicker role far more effectively

The team did sign rookie kicker Tanner Brown to a Reserve/Future contract for 2024. While that may be all the front office does in terms of significant investment into the kicker, the team can take steps to make their starting placekicker more effective in 2024. For example, did you know that the Rams attempted the most field goals of any team in 2023? 43 field goals attempted was the most for any NFL team last season. Of that number, the team made 32 field goals, which was the ninth most made field goals of any team.

Not the worst. The ninth best. And for field goals attempted up to 39 yards distance, the Rams were a perfect 18 of 18. So far, so good. Where the Rams placekicking began to wobble was at distances of 40+ yards. The team was only 14 of 25 from that range. So it was the long-range field goals that proved to be problematic for the team.

Can the team improve that, whether or not the front office can sign a Pro Bowl-caliber kicker? I think it's doable. I may be alone, but I believe that with another training camp, rookie kicker Tanner Brown will be much better at long distance this season. He was one of the Top 5 kickers in the 2023 NFL Draft, despite not hearing his name called out. The Rams passed on rookie P/K Cameron Dicker in 2022, primarily because he competed for the punter role. But he proved to be a phenomenal kicker for the Los Angeles Chargers in 2023.

New year. New opportunities.