The LA Rams will get better over time this season

The LA Rams are not better than expected. Nor are the LA Rams worse than expected. In five games, the LA Rams and the very young and mistake prone Rams roster is delivering what many of us expected at the beginning of the 2023 NFL season. The problem right now is that many of us had forgotten what those realistic expectations about this team were before the season started.

For starters, this is not an NFL roster that has paid the best players at key positions tons of money. For better or worse, the LA Rams front office opted to go on a cleansing diet, and basically take a huge hit to the salary cap in 2023 to clean up fiscal entanglements for the 2024 NFL season and beyond. The Rams are carrying nearly $74 million in dead money in the salary cap this season. That is over a full third of the team's 2023 payroll, essentially abandoned to players who were paid bonuses to win in the past. That is almost impossible to overcome.

This was never intended to be a great football team. Financially speaking, the Rams had already accepted the challenges of a young roster. The LA Rams have accepted the challenge, and in many ways, this team has landed an exciting 2023 rookie draft class.

I beg your pardon, I never promised you a rose garden . . .

The problem is that a young team will be an erratic team. The LA Rams are living examples of that fact. Young players on the Rams roster excel, and the fans are instantly swept up in the unexpected success. These same players then face seasoned veterans, unexpected circumstances, or new strategies, and they are once again back to being inexperienced rookies who will struggle and learn through trial and error.

That is why we urged fans to prepare for plenty of course corrections. The LA Rams now stand at a record of 2-3. But while the Rams have been competitive in each game, they are not there yet. And it's going to take time, and patience, to get there.

The Rams coaching staff, led by LA Rams Head Coach Sean McVay, understands that. The Rams have faced five NFL teams with a combined record of 18-5. And from those teams, the Rams have won two games, and continue ahead with a point differential in those five games of +4.

Yet when you follow the mood of Rams fans so far, you would think that this LA Rams team is not impacted by competing against the best of the NFL so far. That is a formula that will keep you frustrated with this team needlessly.

The LA Rams are a young and rapidly developing team. It won't be easy this year. It certainly won't be pretty this year. But the Rams have a bevy of young players who are delivering this season. Don't allow the expectations of past elite players cloud your vision of just who these players are right now. They are talented, but many are simply experiencing the NFL for the first time.