RAMS IMPROVE SUPER BOWL HOPES BY ACQUIRING MICHEL
L.A. offence adds productive ball carrier with big-game experience to backfield
On a day when two NFL teams named their starting quarterback for 2021, a fairly bigger deal went down.
It was a trade — and it involved arguably the two NFL teams that are least hesitant to deal.
The Los Angeles Rams acquired running back Sony Michel from the New England Patriots, ostensibly for fifth- and sixth-round draft picks next April. But it's likely those two picks will convert into a single 2022 fourth-round draft pick should the Rams, as expected, via the NFL'S compensation draft pick system that throws such Round 4-6 bones to teams that essentially lost more and better free agent players than they signed the previous off-season.
Michel reportedly had been on the trade block since the Patriots drafted Rhamondre Stevenson in Round 4 this past May.
Michel, 26, missed seven games a year ago, sitting out all of October and most of November with a quad injury. He wound up having his best season from a yardsper-carry standpoint (5.7), after averaging 4.5 as a rookie in 2018 and 3.7 in 2019.
As a rookie, Michel scored the only touchdown in New England's Super Bowl LIII victory over the Rams in February 2019. It was his sixth post-season touchdown that year, still a single-season NFL playoff record.
Since then, Michel hasn't been so dominant. He lost his starting job to Damien Harris a year ago, and those two sat atop the Patriots' running backs depth chart earlier this month, ahead of Stevenson.
But too often since 2019,
Michel seemed to be just another guy in a typically overstocked New England backfield. Head coach Bill Belichick must feel comfortable with Harris and Stevenson as his go-to backs in 2021.
The Rams, meantime, became desperate to add a good running back, first and foremost because head coach and chief offensive strategist Sean Mcvay's offence relies heavily on a dangerous run threat for his play-action passing attack to thrive.
Secondly, and crucially at this point in this year's camp, Mcvay's top two running backs are hurt — Darrell Henderson, for the short term, with what's been described as a mildly sprained thumb, and last year's rookie stalwart Cam Akers, for the season, with a blown-out Achilles.
The Rams didn't possess an overall dangerous run-game threat before Wednesday's deal. The club needed more reliability and experience to augment an otherwise young, inexperienced backfield that also includes Jake Funk, Xavier Jones and Raymond Calais.
“We identified Sony for many reasons,” Rams GM Les Snead said Wednesday.
“No. 1 being his experience
... meaning, a player who has carried the ball in big games, and in those big games where there have been big moments, big drives, big series.
“If we were going to go the route of experience, he was someone (we were) definitely eyeing from the start.”
This past winter, the Rams shook the NFL world by trading their starting quarterback, Jared Goff, plus a couple of first-round draft picks to Detroit to obtain the Lions' former No. 1 overall draft pick QB, Matthew Stafford, who by almost every objective measure and assessment is an improvement over Goff.
The Rams now enter the season with a Stafford/michel backfield combo, although Snead underscored that Michel is one man in “a complementary backfield,” but the guy who can “get north and south with some force. ... The physics that he brings to the table, let's call it a flavour of genre that we felt complemented our group.”
Already viewed as one of the top contenders in the NFC to reach the Super Bowl, the Rams' prospects are now that much better.
BRONCOS ANOINT BRIDGEWATER
Denver head coach Vic Fangio named eighth-year pro Teddy Bridgewater his Week 1 starter at quarterback, over incumbent Drew Lock.
While Lock's play in Year 2 was up and down — some spectacular comebacks diminished by sloppy play and too many picks — Bridgewater had arguably his best season in the NFL in his one year in Carolina, despite missing a chunk of time late in the season.
Bridgewater is still trying to return his career to the promising place it was in with Minnesota on the eve of the 2016 season, when he mangled his knee in a non-contact practice drill. He sat out most of two years before attempting a full-fledged comeback in 2018.
After backing up Drew Brees that season and again in 2019, Bridgewater signed with the Panthers as a free agent.
Fangio said Lock and Bridgewater were “even Steven” through training camp practices as recently as last week, but the veteran performed appreciably better than Lock in a 30-3 victory over Seattle last Saturday.
IN OTHER QB NEWS ...
Jacksonville head coach Urban Meyer named rookie Trevor Lawrence his Week 1 starter at quarterback, over incumbent Gardner Minshew.
This was entirely expected, after Meyer selected Lawrence as the Jaguars' No. 1 overall draft pick in April.
In Cincinnati, Joe Burrow will take his first real football snaps since blowing out his knee late in his rookie season with the Bengals. The 24-year-old will get a “very limited number of snaps” against Miami on Sunday, Bengals head coach
Zac Taylor said Wednesday, per Bengals.com.
The 2020 No. 1 overall draft pick completed 65.3 per cent of his rookie passes for 13 touchdowns, five interceptions and an 89.8 passer rating in 10 games.
We identified Sony for many reasons. No. 1 being his experience ... meaning, a player who has carried the ball in big games.