Where will this LA Rams team show the most improvement in 2024?
By Bret Stuter
![Joshua Karty prepares to kick a field goal Joshua Karty prepares to kick a field goal](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_crop,w_5477,h_3080,x_0,y_567/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/images/GettyImages/mmsport/54/01j35qpwfrjpsnhw72gm.jpg)
Even as the LA Rams found ways to get hot in the final eight games of the 2023 NFL season, this team did so in spite of several key components that held them back. Like resistance plates on a race car, claiming victory oftentimes meant overcoming the team's lack of proficiency in several vital areas that NFL teams count on for positive contributions. But the Rams, a team that was never supposed to make the playoffs last season, ran ahead of schedule.
Now, as the team prepares for the 2024 NFL season, the front office hopes that some, if not all, of those leaks in the roster pipes have been fixed.
But like any renovation project, the team certainly has a rather long punch list of areas that did not work up to snuff in 2023 that needed to be addressed over the offseason. And the process is not unique to the Rams football team. All 32 teams attempt to improve the weaknesses on their respective rosters while not creating new problems for the upcoming season. So what did the Rams need to fix this offseason?
Well, per Rams reporter J.B. Long, plenty:
Theme of 2024 could be winning at the margins. Regression in some phases is to be expected; where can Rams progress?
— J.B. Long (@JB_Long) July 18, 2024
Kicking–32nd in 2023
Field position–24th
T/O margin–21st
Takeaways–30th
Pressure%-25th
Others: 4th down, timeouts, clock mgmt
Reestablishing Situational Mastery https://t.co/crlDibveKP
So let's focus on three key areas to improve in 2024. They are: Pass rush, takeaways, and field goal accuracy.
III: Rams Pass rush
It very difficult to imagine the LA Rams defense mounting a more effective pass rush in 2024 when the first event to happen was the retirement of All-Pro DT Aaron Donald. And yet, we can argue over the strategy of how to do so, but that is the reality facing this young defense and new DC Chris Shula. It is a 40-yard dash that must be run on a sprained ankle.
It's tough to win under those circumstances.
So rather than run on one and a half legs, the Rams defense has become a bit of a centipede on defense. 100 legs all aiming to put pressure on the opposing quarterback. While the team can count on the return of NT/DT Kobie Turner, OLB Byron Young, OLB Michael Hoecht, and ILB Ernest Jones to help get the team to 30.0+ quarterback sacks, it will be up to the likes of DE Desjuan Johnson, OLBs Jared Verse, Brennan Jackson, Nick Hampton, Ochaun Mathis, and DTs Bobby Brown III, Braden Fiske, and Tyler Davis to carry the team the rest of the way to 50.0+ quarterback sacks.
And I can see it happening.