New week, new division. The last two weeks we spent our time giving you full breakdowns of last year’s health and this year’s draft analysis for the four teams in the AFC West including the Chiefs, Chargers, Raiders and Broncos. It seems only fitting that we move to the NFC West now and start with the Super Bowl LVI champions and how they fell from the best in the league to finishing with a disappointing 5-12 record this season. As many have speculated Los Angeles putting all their eggs in one basket for the Super Bowl winning season is a big part of this as they traded away draft capital and paid big money for stars and in the end, it worked but at what real cost?
Following the season, they lost Von Miller to the Bills and picked up Bobby Wagner who they released following this past season. Now they have traded Jalen Ramsey and will almost certainly lose Allen Robinson leaving them with some big holes to fix. Another big issue they need to fix however is the injuries that plagued them this past season. Injuries are a part of football, always have been and always will be but we do know that they can be a major factor of success or lack thereof and this was the case with the Rams who saw some big productivity contributors go down this season.
The Rams high powered offense from the year prior was decimated by injury this season. You can literally pick just about any position on the offense, and they had some type of major injury. We will start with the leader Matt Stafford. Stafford suffered a concussion and neck injury week 9 and couldn’t play for the remainder of the season. John Wolford did his best and ultimately, they signed QB Baker Mayfield for the remainder of the season but by that time the playoffs were out of sight. At wide receiver playmakers Van Jefferson and Allen Robinson both missed time for a Knee injury and foot fracture respectively but the biggest hit was a high ankle sprain to the 2021 offensive player of the year and Super Bowl LVI MVP Cooper Kupp. Kupp made a splash with remarks regarding the turf and resulting injuries following his ankle. A point that we at The Predictors very much agree with but that’s for a different article. The offensive line saw Joe Noteboom tear his Achilles while RB Cam Akers tried to find his momentum after returning from the same injury a year prior.
On defense safety Jordan Fuller tried to battle a Hamstring injury but, in his position, soft tissue injuries are a brutal injury to return from as the chance of reaggravating them are high given the deceleration, jumping and power needed. Even more notable however was the loss week 13 of 3x defensive player of the year Aaron Donald to his High Ankle Sprain. The leader of that Rams defense and biggest playmaker missed the last 6 weeks of the season. Injuries to players like that ruin playoff hopes and Los Angeles had been dealing with them on offense and defense all year.
A breakdown of the Rams Banged Up Score from this past season shows steady decrease as expected outside of their bye-week. Following a week 6 64 B.U.S they emerged from their bye with a renewed health 9 points higher at 73. Unfortunately, they continued to fall in the subsequent weeks ending the year with a bottom five 53.9 B.U.S and a yearly average of just 69.2.
What can the Rams do this coming year to turn this around aside from some financial moves and rebuilding from players lost? When it comes to health, they can start by listening to their wide receiver and get some new turf considering two of the teams with the worst B.U.S Health rankings play on the slit film the NFLPA has been asking them to change. But outside of that The Rams will likely need to add some young depth to their skill positions as they have seen many injuries on both sides including wide receiver, running back and safety. The question is can they add depth and rebuild, or will old moves continue to haunt them? That’s a question for [@Ryan Berger](https://twitter.com/Ryan Berger) who will let you know tomorrow in his Los Angeles Rams “Rough Draft”. Be sure to check it out back here on thepredictors.com.
