Surprise. The Los Angeles Rams weren’t supposed to be here. They implemented a youth movement this season with the 14 players they picked up through the 2023 NFL Draft.
The team had to say good-bye to some quality veterans.
Some of these players were key contributors to the Rams beating the Cincinnati Bengals in Super Bowl LVI. Training camp became an introduction to getting to know the guy in the locker room stall next to you with the influx of young players.

On top of that, the Rams started the season, winning just three of the first nine games that they played. At 3-6, the Rams looked like a team on the abyss of another losing season. The bye week came and went. Something clicked.
That something was that the team grew up, Rams head coach Sean McVay said in the week leading up to the Rams playing the San Francisco 49ers in the team’s final game of the regular season.
“Well, there’s been a lot of big-time contributions but I think it starts with the veteran leadership, them modeling the way,” McVay said. “I think what they’ve done a great job of is really maturing faster than probably a lot of people thought other than the people that were in this building. They’ve shown maturity.
“They’ve shown an ability to accelerate their progression and I think that’s because of the opportunities that were earned from a lot of those guys that played a significant amount of snaps. There are a lot of second year players that have done a really good job with that as well. I think it’s been a great example of team football and guys being connected and being mentally and physically tough and just continuing to be committed to a process.”
Since their Week 10 mini-vacation, the Rams have played almost lights out against the rest of their opponents, winning seven of their final eight games of the season. The only blemish the Rams took on was an overtime defeat on the road against Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens.

The Rams ended the regular season as the No. 2 seed representing the NFC West Division, and probably a team no one wants to face. The race to the Super Bowl is not about what team got off to a fast start, but how they finish.
The Rams finished with a roar to wind up as the NFC’s No. 6 seed in the playoffs. Beating NFC West rival San Francisco 49ers in the final game on the road, even if both teams rested plenty of their key starters, solidifies the postseason push by the Rams in the second half of the season.
First-year players like wide receiver Puka Nacua, edge rusher Byron Young and Kobie Turner, have contributed mightily to the success of the Rams. While Nacua was breaking all sorts of several NFL records for a rookie, Young and Turner helped shore up the Rams defensive deficiencies.
“They’ve really gotten better watching those guys go since they’ve been here,” Rams defensive coordinator Morris said. “They came in young rookies. Kobie came in, super smart, super intelligent with an unbelievable motor. Byron just coming in really showing us stuff right off the bat with some explosiveness being just a violent rusher and he’s really developed some of his tools to get even better and now developing as a dropper as well, being at the outside backer position.”

It was inconceivable to some that the Rams, a team that went sideways with a 5-12 record a year after winning the Super Bowl, would be able to field a team in 2023 that would be competitive and make it back to the postseason.
McVay’s team met that standard and went above that measure winning 10 games and engineering a playoff berth. McVay and the Rams play the Detroit Lions in a Wild Card playoff date. The Rams revamped most of their roster. All those young players have paid dividends for McVay and his squad.
“It makes a big difference and a lot of it… what’s interesting about this year is it was by necessity. You don’t even really have a choice because of some of the situations that we were in. These guys got to go. They’ve got to mature and they’re going to get opportunities that maybe some of the other rookie classes weren’t afforded because of the depth that we previously have had. So I think it was great and I think these guys handled it really well,” McVay said.

Dennis has covered and written about politics, crime, race, sports, and entertainment. Dennis currently covers the NFL, MLB, NBA, NCAA, and Olympic sports. Dennis is the editor of News4usonline.com and serves as the publisher of the Compton Bulletin newspaper. He earned a journalism degree from Howard University. Email Dennis at dfreeman@news4usonline.com
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