The Los Angeles Rams went into win-now mode unlike anything we’ve ever seen in the National Football League and Sunday’s 23-20 win over the Cincinnati Bengals confirmed that it paid off.
It feels like the Rams, who, and pardon the cross-sport reference, resemble their neighboring Los Angeles Lakers far more than the crosstown Los Angeles Chargers, potentially could change how other NFL franchises go about team-building in the future.
What’s the future for the Rams? Well, who knows. But present day has Super Bowl MVP Cooper Kupp and the organization hoisting the Lombardi Trophy at SoFi Stadium in large part because Los Angeles was aggressive in its pursuit of stars, spending big to acquire players like cornerback Jalen Ramsey, quarterback Matthew Stafford and most recently edge rusher Von Miller.
That mindset has been a few seasons in the making, and it didn’t always pay off. After all, the Rams traded a haul for the opportunity to draft quarterback Jared Goff No. 1 overall and we all know how that played out.
Still, general manager Les Snead and the Rams doubled down on their tactics. Los Angeles dealt its 2020 and 2021 first-round picks to the Jacksonville Jaguars for Ramsey, moved first-round picks in 2022 and 2023 along with a 2021 third-rounder and Goff to receive Stafford from the Detroit Lions and most recently, at the NFL trade deadline, traded a second- and third-rounder for Miller to complement Aaron Donald. At the time of the Miller trade the Rams were fighting for a wild-card spot with the Arizona Cardinals leading the NFC West division. It was the final example of the Rams pushing all their chips in the middle.
Sure, Los Angeles has only three picks in the 2021 NFL Draft. Sure, head coach Sean McVay won’t have many Pro Day trips to attend this spring or prospects to scout. And maybe Snead has a tough time maintaining the sustainability of the current product in LA. But there’s no denying the Rams set out to build a champion in a way that so many other personnel departments have been too scared to do. They accomplished it Sunday.
Of course, Los Angeles has the benefit of being in Los Angeles. Players want to play there as we saw with receiver Odell Beckham Jr. arriving in the big city as a free agent midway through the season. That’s a benefit in itself. But it’s hard not to think the organization’s win-now mindset attracted (and will continue to attract) players in a win-now frame of mind. Beckham fits in that category, as well.
Nevertheless, Sunday’s win for the Rams proved while for so long (and right or wrong) it’s been about drafting and developing young talent, an aggressive and perhaps unorthodox team-building approach was what helped accomplish what every NFL teams sets out to do.
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