We live in the age of consumerism, where many products have a short shelf-life before being replaced. Buy the latest smartphone or television today, and in six months the next version will be announced with bigger, better and faster specs and the ability to fluff your pillows before bed. The same is true for cars, computers or just about anything that can be powered on. However, the ‘newer is better’ approach doesn’t usually work the same way in sports.
While fans often get excited about new draft picks, the reality is that teams generally picking high in the draft are doing so because they are not very good. So while we can fantasize that the first-round quarterback will turn into Joe Montana, it’s more likely that he’ll take four or five years to become Tony Romo, an above average signal caller who can get you to the playoffs once in a while. For this reason, teams often use the draft to pick players they can groom for the future, while relying on veterans to steer the ship until they’re ready. The St. Louis Rams are not one of those teams.
When coach Jeff Fisher came to town to take over the worst team in football he quickly blew up the unit and traded the title for the youngest team in football. Grizzled vets were shown the door while the locker room began to look like a Partyline photo spread with lots of young 20-somethings alongside a few old fogeys hoping to recapture their glory years. The results were astounding, a team that finished an embarrassing 2-14 under Steve Spagnuolo went 7-8-1 in its first season under Fisher, despite being much younger and more inexperienced on plenty of levels.
This season Fisher continued the youth movement, waving goodbye to talented fan favorites such as Steven Jackson and Danny Amendola and saying hello to potential impact rookies Tavon Austin (WR), Alec Ogletree (LB) and T.J. McDonald (S). The Rams will also lean heavily on last year’s impressive rookie class, which included Michael Brockers (DT), Janoris Jenkins (CB), Isaiah Pead (RB), Daryl Richardson (RB), Trumaine Johnson (CB), Brian Quick (WR) and Greg Zuerlein (PK).
After Jackson relocated to Atlanta, quarterback Sam Bradford now takes the reigns as the team’s veteran leader at the ripe old age of 25. With the addition of tight end Jared Cook via free agency and a plethora of draft picks thrown at wide receivers and running backs over the past few years, Bradford should have enough tools to build an explosive offense this season.
Sure running back and wide receiver are the two most inexperienced positions on the team. Only one player (Austin Pettis) on the current roster can boast that he has reached his third season in the league. Luckily for the Rams, explosiveness and raw talent can often outweigh inexperience at these two positions. That means Pead or Richardson can make up for a missed blocking assignment by rattling off a 70-yard scamper with those fresh legs and still-impressive 40 times. Or WR Chris Givens can make up for a bad route by getting behind the safety for a deep third-down conversion.
It appears the Rams regular-season roster looks to have less than a handful of players in their dirty 30s when the season begins. This could literally be the youngest team in NFL history. You would expect such a team to be full of bungling, fumbling kids, but Fisher proved last year that he could build success with a young team.
On the defensive end, last year’s unit was stout and looks to take the next step to becoming downright scary if Brockers and Robert Quinn (DE) can develop into dominant players. While many point out that St. Louis finds itself in the toughest division in the NFL, they showed the ability last season to keep Colin Kaepernick and Russell Westbrook in check. The defensive line, linebackers and cornerbacks are not much of a concern. The question mark will be the safety regime. McDonald is a rookie who will certainly have his share of lapses and Darian Stewart played sparingly last season. Still, the two are young and athletic and can’t fare worse than Palmer Alexander’s favorite punching-bag Craig Dahl.
All things considered, the Rams look poised to improve upon their 7-8-1 record from last season. A recent article on CBSSports.com predicted the Rams will win more games than the Atlanta Falcons, who advanced to the NFC Championship game a season ago. Not everybody is sold on the team’s youth movement, but this team of youngsters doesn’t seem to care. They’re a confident bunch and as long as Fisher and his assistant coaches can keep them competent, the word “playoffs” will no longer be a punch line when it comes to pro football in St. Louis.
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