We made it y'all. Training Camp time in the NFL. Football is back. Well, at least enough to be a little excited about anything. We're on the fast track to the new edition of the NFL season with now, a shortened 3 game preseason schedule and a the newly introduced 17 game regular season that's giving us more football than ever before. The Los Angeles Rams are set to start their training camp program Wednesday, the 28th that will pave their way into an deeply anticipated 2021 season. With a new veteran quarterback in Matthew Stafford now taking the calls from Head Coach Sean McVay, and a change in multiple pieces of coaching personnel that stretch around the whole building of home base University of California Irvine, the Rams and McVay seem to have even more to prove in his 5th year as play caller. While he has no shortage of talent to lead out on the field on Sundays with his current regime (some might say his best in his entire head coaching tenure), McVay is faced with the task of proving his consistency as a playcaller and making a deep playoff push after the huge trade of Jared Goff for Matthew Stafford in late January.
My main interest this season to see how much of the load will be placed on 3rd year running back and 3rd round draft pick Darrell Henderson. The young back showed promise last season in 3 man tandem last season along with Akers and now new Miami Dolphin, Malcolm Brown. And also played well when Akers went down to injuries in 2020. Henderson started 11 games in 2020 and on 138 rushes, he amassed 624 yards and 5 touchdowns. The promise is there for Henderson and McVay has said that they have no plans to shop the decently saturated free agent market of running backs that are currently available. It'll also make things interesting for the depth of the position as the Rams have 2nd year back Xavier Jones waiting in the wings, as well as Raymond Calais. Those two will be met by a 7th round rookie out of Maryland named Jake Funk who has a strong understanding of the urgency of this situation the Rams are dealing with. Funk is making sure he's going to be playing his best to put his new team in a spot to succeed.
It makes for an even more exciting offseason, no doubt. It puts a lot more on the plate of a veteran quarterback in his first year of a brand new system. A system that seems to be exactly built for this offense to succeed on all fronts. Over the course of the remainder of the offseason, I'm certain the Rams offense will undergo plenty of changes to help with adjusting to the loss of Akers. But, if there was ever a time for McVay to truly prove his "Boy Genius" title, it's definitely going to have to be in 2021.
On the other side of the ball rests the reigning number one ranked defense in the NFL. Now that Brandon Staley has left for the Los Angeles Chargers vacant head coaching job, the defense is in a tough spot to repeat the success they had last season. The group gave up a league best 296 points in the regular season (18.5/game). In a deep NFC West division, the pressure is on for Aaron Donald and company to bring another excellent effort and make it easier on their offense. New defensive coordinator Raheem Morris is a veteran of the league and no doubt at all that the defense is in good hands, but almost always after a top 5 or 3 season, regression is to be expected, especially with a new signal caller. Thankfully with some of the most talented defensive backs the NFL has to offer, the Rams can reload, as opposed to rebuild. Corner back Jalen Ramsey did his thing in his first full season in the horns, acquiring a Pro Bowl nod and a first team All-Pro selection.
This unit will be the most exciting to see on the field, personally. With the losses of Troy Hill and John Johnson III, the new defensive backs in their spot will sure to be tested and be forced to make big plays. Taylor Rapp taking over free safety duties from Johnson will definitely prove to be a challenge. The 3rd year player showed decent promise in his rookie year when his number was called but a full season of production will be needed here from Rapp. I have no doubt Jordan Fuller and Darious Williams will still be solid on the outside with the help of Ramsey. While the linebacker situation for the Rams is still somewhat of a question mark outside of Leonard Floyd who amassed a 10.5 sack season in 2020 which helped get a nice new 4 year, $64 million contract. Look to see a decent mix of Micah Kiser, Travin Howard, Troy Reeder, Ogbonnia Okoronkwo, Kenny Young, Terrell Lewis and Justin Hollins, with a mix of even more younger players looking to prove their ability in the preseason.
On the defensive line it goes without mentioning that the return of a healthy Aaron Donald already puts this group in a fantastic spot to succeed. Donald suffered a broken rib injury during the wildcard win in Seattle and when the Rams made the trip to Green Bay in the Divisional Round, he looked nowhere near himself. But, hopefully after a nice long offseason, he'll certainly be back to 100% and wreak havoc as he as done his entire career. The loss of defensive tackle Michael Brockers is a big one, as Donald has never not lined up next to Brockers during his career with the Rams. The loss of that rapport will show if it does come to be a big problem. Sebastian Joseph-Day, a fan favorite, will look to fill that void nicely as Donald can use all the help he can get absorbing double and even triple teams on some snaps. Greg Gaines will be backing up Joseph-Day and I do think these two will show up big this season.
We're almost there. August is lurking, and soon enough we'll have a Hall of Fame game to watch between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Dallas Cowboys to prep the palates of all football fans for what's to come. Fans are allowed back in stadiums (as of now) and soon enough September and the week one kickoff will be approaching us all when we need it most.