Riding the Rams:
Key questions facing the Super Bowl runner-up include whether the loss will hold LA back.
It has been a steep rise since the franchise replaced head coach Jeff Fisher with Sean McVay in January 2017.
In the first year, the Rams ended a 14-year streak without a winning season.
In the second, they gave Los Angeles its first Super Bowl run in 35 years.
Of course, as the Rams discovered in Atlanta, the final step might be the most difficult.
When the Patriots beat the Rams 13-3 in Super Bowl LIII, New England became the first team since the 1972 Dolphins to win the Super Bowl the year after losing it.
The odds of that happening in consecutive seasons after not happening for nearly a halfcentury seem long.
“I think our players and our coaches are all smart enough to know that this league is too competitive,” McVay said. “Too many good players and coaches for us not to continue to focus on getting better ... I think you want to learn from the past, you want to be able to take some of the things that we learned.”
A big mystery surrounds Todd Gurley. Both the Pro Bowl running back and McVay have offered little clarity on the knee ailment that plagued him last postseason, though his trainer said there was an “arthritic component.” With Gurley unlikely to play in the preseason, training camp might be the lone window into his status.
Will the offensive line take a step back?
One of the biggest reasons McVay and his staff were able to turn the franchise around so quickly was the offensive line, which improved from one of the league’s worst to one of its best with the addition of veterans Andrew Whitworth and John Sullivan.
Whitworth, 37, will return at left tackle for a 14th NFL season. But Sullivan, 33, remained a free agent at press time, and left guard Rodger Saffold, perhaps the team’s most consistent performer since its return to Los Angeles, signed a four-year, $44 million contract with Tennessee in March.
Among the candidates to emerge as replacements are Joseph Noteboom and Brian Allen, the Rams’ first two picks of the 2018 draft at No. 89 and No. 111 overall, respectively.
Surprisingly, the Rams did not add to their interior line depth during the draft, instead opting to draft tackle Bobby Evans of Oklahoma in the third round and David Edwards of Wisconsin in the fifth round.
When will a Goff extension arrive?
Aaron Donald, Gurley and Brandin Cooks are in the fold for the next five to six years, thanks to $182.5 million in guarantees. Next up is the player the Rams no doubt will add to that core long term.
“You think this is a next step in a long string of decisions for Jared,” chief operating officer Kevin Demoff said after the Rams picked up quarterback Jared Goff’s fifth-year option for 2020.
Demoff compared the NFL QB market to the spiraling real estate market in Los Angeles, hinting a deal done this summer could save the team money long term.
“You certainly give it consideration,” Demoff said. “We’ve always been a franchise that’s been willing to do deals after Year 3.”