Offseason overview – Los Angeles Rams

It is time to examine the Rams offseason acquisitions and see how those might impact the Seahawks. The Rams have won three of the last four games against the Seahawks and now have a new city to call home and a new face of the franchise.

The Rams have had one of the busiest offseasons of any team in the NFL. This offseason saw the Rams change cities, moving up from #15 to #1 in the NFL draft, and change the roster over in an attempt to improve their win/loss record. Let’s discuss the Rams offseason moves and take a look how this might impact the Seahawks.

Offense

The Rams offense during the 2015 season ranked dead last in passing offense and much of that can be attributed to the personnel filling the quarterback position. The Rams offense also lacked big time playmakers outside of RB Todd Gurley and WR Tavon Austin. Underutilized TE Jared Cook was shown the door and signed with the Green Bay Packers and there were really no notable free agents brought in by the team on the offensive side of the ball to improve the offensive unit.

Dec 17, 2015 St. Louis, MO, USA; St. Louis Rams wide receiver Tavon Austin (11) . Mandatory Credit: Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports /

In the NFL Draf,t Rams GM Les Snead set out to fill many of the perceived offensive holes the Rams had. Most notably the Rams drafted QB Jared Goff with the first overall pick.

Goff ,who played at the University of California, has now been thrust into the spotlight as the new face of this franchise. It is not yet clear if Goff will have to compete with holdovers Case Keenum and Nick Foles for the starting job or if he will be handed the keys to the offense once he officially steps foot into the Rams complex.

The Rams continued their offensive overhaul by drafting WR Pharoh Cooper (South Carolina) in the fourth round and WR Mike Thomas (Southern Miss) in the sixth round. In an under the radar move the Rams are giving a tryout to undrafted but talented WR Duke Williams (Auburn). Williams has never lacked in his skill set, but was kicked off the Auburn football team last season due to off-field issues.

To fill the TE position vacated by Jared Cook the Rams drafted two tight ends Tyler Higbee (Western Kentucky) in the fourth round and Temarrick Hemingway (South Carolina State) in the sixth round. The Rams are expecting that players already on their roster who are returning from injury will solidify their offensive line.

May 6, 2016; Oxnard, CA, USA; Los Angeles Rams quarterback Jared Goff (16) looks on during rookie minicamp at River Ridge Fields. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports /

With a returning Todd Gurley and a lot of new weapons at the QB, WR, and TE, LA Rams fans have reasons to hope their offense will be better this year than it was in 2015. This Rams offense has not had a lot of success against the Seahawks defense in recent seasons however they have been able to put up just enough points to come out on top. The Seahawks will likely see a lot of Todd Gurley and Tavon Austin yet again this season as the Rams will look to ease their rookie quarterback into the NFL.

Defense

The Rams defense has been the cornerstone of their team for the past couple of seasons. But this offseason saw the Rams lose DE Chris Long, DT Nick Fairly, CB Janoris Jenkins, S Rodney McLeod, and LB James Laurinaitis. However the LA Rams defense still has DT Michael Brockers, LB Alec Ogletree, CB Trumaine Johnson, DE Robert Quinn, and scary DT Aaron Donald. The Rams also resigned S/LB Hybrid Mark Baron and DE William Haye,s meaning this is still a formidable defense capable of wreaking havoc on opposing offenses.

Sep 14, 2014; Tampa, FL, USA; St. Louis Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald (99). Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports /

The Rams signed some defensive depth in CB Coty Sensabaugh and DE Quinton Coples and drafted a single defensive player in LB Josh Forrest (Kentucky) in round six. As has become the Rams team staple in recent years, the 2016 Rams defense should still be capable of being a hard hitting, tone setting unit that offenses will need to be weary of.

Although the Rams defense will likely continue to the cornerstone of this franchise in 2016 the team has made some moves to improve their offense. There will be a lot of eyes on rookie signal caller Jared Goff but with Todd Gurley and Tavon Austin to take on the offensive load the Rams should be poised to allow Goff to learn the NFL game without having to do everything on his own.

The Seattle versus Rams rivalry has been fairly one-sided in recent seasons with the Rams figuring out how to better the Seahawks in three out of the last four. This season’s games should continue to be slug fests with lots of hard hits, special teams’ surprises, and chance taking by the coaches. The keys to success for the Seahawks versus Rams this season will be to stop Todd Gurley, not get beat on special teams, and hope that Aaron Donald and the rest of the Rams defensive front seven don’t control the Seahawks offensive line like they have in recent contests.

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