NFL Media’s Chris Wesseling had an interesting piece yesterday in ranking the NFL’s offenses and grading each unit. I’d advise Los Angeles Rams fans to read it carefully and consider the context of each teams’ grades without getting emotional or immediately banging their keyboards, but who are we kidding. This is #theinternet.
Wesseling ranks the Rams’ O 8th in the league with the following grades:
Quarterback: B
Backfield: A-
Receiving corps: B
Offensive line: B+
Personally, I don’t have any issue with the grades. I might downgrade the O-line grade a bit based on depth and upgrade the backfield grade for the same (hi, rookie RB John Kelly!), but not all that wildly.
To me, the big takeaway was what the 2018 season was going to be about before the major personnel additions prior to the 2018 NFL Draft: the development and growth or lack thereof of QB Jared Goff.
I talked about Goff’s development a bit in looking at what his contract negotiations are going to revolve around in the coming years. The good thing here is that Goff turns just 24-years old in October with only 22 regular season starts to his name. He’s ultimately going to be defined as an NFL quarterback by what’s to come, not what we’ve seen thus far.
Is he the defining component of the offense in 2018? I think so. The positive thing is that he’s not alone for talent. With a top 10 offensive depth chart around him and an offensively-minded head coach in Sean McVay, he should have all the tools to succed in 2018.
Which is why he really needs to.