PodcastFrom Bootleg Football

How good are the Rams, actually?

STACKED extracted the fantasy-relevant player signal from this podcast and kept the full transcript here for context.

1 hr 13 min

Duration

Estimated from transcript

Sep 9, 2026

Published

Wed, September 9, 2026

Player insights

Players mentioned

Topics

Matthew StaffordCJ DanielsDerrick HenryJared GoffMax KlarePuka NacuaStetson BennettTy SimpsonTyler HigbeeXavier Smith

Player analysis

Player insights

CJ Daniels

PositiveSleeper102:03

Despite average athletic testing, Daniels is a value pick at 197 due to his uncanny ability to make contested catches in tight coverage.

Insight page

Derrick Henry

PositiveUsage11:44

Derrick Henry is noted as a first-ballot Hall of Famer whose explosive runs on first-and-10 significantly skewed Baltimore's rushing EPA per play metrics last season.

Insight page

Jared Goff

NegativeProjection26:04

The source acknowledges Goff as a very good quarterback who has continued to grow in Detroit, but notes that the Rams moved on because they needed an elite ceiling to win a championship.

Insight page

Matthew Stafford

PositiveProjection25:56

The source compares the Rams' recent defensive acquisitions to the trade for Stafford, noting that the team prioritized elite talent at key positions to get over the hump and win a Super Bowl.

Insight page

PositiveUsage27:18

Stafford remains an elite mental processor who can still rip the football despite his age and injury history. His ability to read defenses pre-snap and execute high-level throws allows the Rams to maintain an explosive, efficient offense that avoids difficult third-down situations.

Insight page

NegativeUsage87:02

Stafford is on a year-to-year basis regarding his career and health, with the Rams actively preparing for his eventual retirement by drafting Ty Simpson.

Insight page

Max Klare

PositiveBreakout95:37

Clare is a well-rounded, physically gifted tight end with underrated speed; he is currently the third-stringer but is the long-term succession plan for the Rams' tight end room.

Insight page

Puka Nacua

NegativeInjury115:31

There are currently unanswered questions regarding Puka Nacua's health status heading into the season.

Insight page

Stetson Bennett

PositiveRole37:50

Bennett credited associate coordinator Dave Ragone for his development, noting that strengthening their relationship has significantly improved his performance on the field since entering the league.

Insight page

Ty Simpson

NegativeProjection85:38

The Rams selected Simpson at pick 13 as the heir apparent to Stafford; he is expected to serve as a backup capable of winning games if needed to keep the team in playoff contention.

Insight page

Tyler Higbee

PositiveRole79:01

Higbee remains a very useful player for the Rams, though he is now 33 years old, necessitating succession planning at the tight end position.

Insight page

Xavier Smith

PositiveUsage80:03

Smith is a valuable glue guy for the Rams, playing 20.5% of snaps as a WR3/4 and special teams contributor for only $1 million.

Insight page

Full transcript

Episode Transcript

844

0:00Do you have goals, or do you have fears?

0:03Most football teams are built based on what they're afraid of.

0:06They're afraid of consequences. They're afraid of their future being slightly more uncertain than it is right now.

0:12The specter of failure makes them run for cover under definite mediocrity, rather than expose themselves to the elements of potential embarrassment.

0:19But there is at least one team out there that ignores their fears in favor of their goals, and they act like it.

0:27They needed a corner, so they got a corner.

0:30They needed a backup quarterback, so they got a backup quarterback.

0:33They needed to execute a massive trade to bring in Miles Garrett so they could lure Aaron Donald out of retirement.

0:40So? Well, that part was a little bit overkill, but it's awesome, so I'll allow it.

0:45In the end, why focus on what happens if it all doesn't work, when instead, you can focus on what happens if it does?

0:53But the Rams were built to win the Super Bowl, and they have sealed the deal.

0:58This team will be considered a failure if they don't win it all.

1:02But honestly, I think they're okay with that. They welcome that pressure, because if there is any team on Earth that is

1:09not governed by their own fear of failure, but instead by the privilege of ambition, it's this one.

1:15Welcome, finally, to Rams Day. Welcome to the Bootleg Football Podcast.

1:18I'm Brett Coleman. That's EJ Snyder. We have arguably the heaviest of heavy hitters today.

1:23The LA Rams. I know Seahawks fans would take issue with that, but I mean, come on.

1:29Like, it was already a great team. They're adding Miles Garrett.

1:32They're adding Aaron Donald. They're adding two corners. How can they not be the favorite at this point?

1:38You weren't bad before, and you added a couple of nuclear weapons.

1:42Rams are going to be a tough out this year.

1:45They were a very tough out last year before they did that.

1:49So we'll talk about why that is, about how they achieve those numbers, about where they fit in the power score rankings,

1:56and go through what they've done to improve, strangely enough, for 2026.

2:00And maybe most importantly of all, if you're a Seahawks fan watching this, patiently waiting for the last day of the series, how do you beat it?

2:08Right? That's the question that everybody's asking is, how do you beat this team?

2:13And we have some thoughts on that as well.

2:16Maybe it's not in the way that you think.

2:19But we'll start off today recapping a very strong 2025.

2:22What worked, some of the few things that didn't, and then how they got better in 2026.

2:27Absolutely. Most fans want us to go fairly quickly through this and just get to the new stuff.

2:33I think Rams fans are one of the few fan bases that want us to go at least a little bit slow

2:40to acknowledge how good and how fun 2025 was for them.

2:4412-5, second in the very tough division, the NFC West, defended their house extremely well.

2:48I know a lot of people go in on, you know, LA fans, Rams fans.

2:53They look at SoFi half full of visiting fans every week and say, oh, Rams fans aren't real football fans.

3:00They're 7-1. They defended their house. They deserve credit for that.

3:03Road games, 5-4. Last five games, 3-2, not the strongest in the division.

3:0749ers outstripped them there. But overall, a very strong team, a tough schedule, came up short again to the eventual Super Bowl winners.

3:15But they were wildly effective in getting there. This is not a team that lucked into it.

3:20This is not a team that sort of wandered ass backwards into their record.

3:25This was a strong team throughout offense, defense. Special teams we'll talk about, but scoring defense for sure.

3:31In terms of how we rank that, it's the bootleg power score for us.

3:35This is how things happened last year. Passing EPA per play, elite, third in the NFL.

3:40Rushing EPA per play, very close to top 10.

3:43They were 11th. That is a wildly balanced offense.

3:46Very potent offense. We'll talk about the results of that.

3:49In terms of defense, pass EPA per play. They were 10th.

3:53They were a top 10 defense against the pass.

3:56You need to be that in the modern NFL to be effective and go far.

4:00Rams are both. They were very effective and went quite far.

4:04Against the run, they were tied for 13th. We see a lot of elite pass defenses that have what I would call very average run defenses get by.

4:13And you can do that in the NFL. It's one area you can kind of skimp on.

4:18Rams didn't skimp. They were tied for 13th. Points scored.

4:22All right. Turn on the bright lights. The big marquee.

4:25This is LA after all 518. That was the most points scored in the league by 28 points.

4:31That is a whole extra game of scoring, even at their standards.

4:34That is like for some teams, that's two extra games of scoring.

4:38Right. For teams at the bottom of the poll, that's two games.

4:42For the Rams, it's one full extra game. It's as if they played 18 and everybody else played 17.

4:48That's crazy. So that made them number one in terms of most points scored in the entire league.

4:54In terms of a scoring defense, they were top 10.

4:57They were 10th. They only allowed 346 points. That created a point differential of plus 172.

5:02That was the second best point differential in the league.

5:05As you can imagine from all those single digit ranks, the power score is going to be real, real good.

5:12You add them up, divide by six, you get a raw score of eight.

5:16That is number one this year in power score.

5:19Rams were the most powerful team by power score.

5:22In the NFL. I know Seahawks fans are screaming at their monitors right now.

5:27We can hear you even with noise canceling headphones.

5:30We get it. But in terms of the way we rank teams, the Rams were really, really good in 2025.

5:36Really, really balanced. And then they went out and added stuff for 26.

5:40Yeah. Multiple Hall of Famers, all pros. First ballot Hall of Famers at that.

5:45Right. It's not even like just, oh, he's a Hall of Famer.

5:48It's a we don't even have to debate about it.

5:52He gets approved in under 60 seconds. Two guys, Miles Garrett and Aaron Donald.

5:56And Trent McDuffie is a hell of a player in his own right.

6:00I do want to give some historical context here.

6:03So you said the point differential was what? One seventy two plus one seventy two.

6:08Second best in the league last year. And Seattle, I believe, was number one at like one ninety one.

6:14So that is one ninety one. There's a lot of comparisons this offseason to the oh seven Patriots.

6:20Right. The team that went undefeated. One of the best teams ever until they ran into that pesky Eli Manning in the Super Bowl.

6:28Which, by the way, almost the 20 year anniversary of that next year is 20 years.

6:33Did you see, by the way, that it's I think it's either 14 or 17 years since LeGarrette Blount punched the Boise State player?

6:40That was yesterday. Oh, shit. Really? That was already.

6:43That was yesterday. Oh, my God. Oh, we are old.

6:47Yeah. So back to the Patriots real quick. Again, one seventy two point differential.

6:51We're trying to catch the Patriots in terms of greatest team ever in the regular season.

6:56Do you know what their point differential was in oh seven in 16 games, not 17?

7:01I have no idea. Plus three fifteen. Their points for was five eighty nine.

7:06Their points against was two seventy four. That's the ball.

7:09What? It's unbelievable. OK, their differential. Hang on one second.

7:12Their margin of victory was nineteen point seven. And by the way, that was every game because they won every game.

7:19They averaged nineteen point seven points margin of victory.

7:22So when we compare the twenty twenty six Rams to that, it's like, OK, yes, they added all these all these talent.

7:29Does Miles Garrett, Aaron Donald, Trent McDuffie, Watson, does all of that add up to an extra like hundred eighty points in point differential?

7:37We'll we'll see. We'll see. It's going to be hard in this division to do that.

7:42What was their differential again? The Patriots differential plus three fifty three fifteen.

7:46OK, it's not that bad, but it's still kind of scary.

7:49One, two, three, four, five, six. Their differential was greater than the total points scored by six teams last year.

7:56That's so fucking stupid. It's dumb. Oh, that is an absurd number.

8:00Like if you're going through NFL history. This team in context.

8:03Yeah, it's like we have to. Before we get ahead of our skis, we have to understand what the bar is.

8:10Yeah. Right. I think it's very possible this is a team that wins the Super Bowl.

8:15You know, I cavalierly and that's my way of saying stupidly said that if you played this season ten times, the Rams probably win the Super Bowl.

8:24Three of them. Statistically speaking, it's actually more like one point seven of them if you're looking at like odds right now.

8:31And even that is like generous just because stuff happens.

8:34Right. Guys get hurt. The ball bounces weird. You got to deal with two other juggernauts in your own division or in

8:41the Rams case, your field goals get blocked four times.

8:44So like there's stuff that happens that can prevent you from winning the Super Bowl.

8:49But the fact that one team out of 32 has like a 17 percent chance of winning the whole damn thing.

8:56That is serious muscle. Right. So it you could very easily argue it's the best team in the league on paper.

9:03We'll see if they can do that on grass this year.

9:06Yeah, that's the kicker is we've seen many, many, many offseason champs hit the grass and not work out for any number of reasons.

9:14Now, again, as we can see it, we have now been through almost every team in the league.

9:20We have we have one more to go. So 31 of 32 teams we have gone through in depth and we're pretty familiar with the Seahawks.

9:28So let's call it 32 on paper, as you said, the team stack and they should be talked about in the tones

9:35they're being talked about, because it's not like they were a crappy team last year and they added to potential Hall of

9:42or, you know, future Hall of Famers. So now they're good and we're just projecting.

9:47They were already elite last year. Top two by pretty much any measure.

9:51One of the most powerful teams in the NFL.

9:54And they added two guys they didn't have last year who are tremendous difference makers.

9:59And I don't use that term lately on defense.

10:02So, yeah, and they didn't lose that many guys.

10:05So they should be being talked about in the tones are being talked about.

10:09But grass is a funny thing. As my former editors football coach told him when he was little, balls, not round.

10:16Bounce is funny. I do want to take some time to talk about what this team was already good at before loading up on even more talent.

10:24We'll start with the offensive side. So this team was the ultimate evolution of one of the themes that we've talked about throughout this entire series.

10:33And if you're one of the lucky few or not even lucky, one of the brave few, one of the sick in the head few ruddy few.

10:41There is listen to every single episode. There has been an offensive trend that we've touched on a few times, right?

10:48In the Colts episode and the Bears episode where teams that that throw a lot on first down in order to set up more manageable second downs.

10:57And if they don't complete the pass, then they're going to be a high run rate second down team to get back

11:04to third manageable because they feel like they're a pretty good team on like, say, third and five, right?

11:10That was the Colts calling card before everybody got injured.

11:13Really not everybody before the quarterback got injured. They were extremely explosive as a passing game on first down.

11:19Same thing for the Bears. They were a top five pass rate on first down.

11:24And if they were in second and 10, they ran the ball because they could.

11:29Right. The Rams were like that, but even more pass happy.

11:32They averaged 6.4 yards per play on first down second only to Baltimore.

11:37And a big reason why Baltimore was first is because they got a bunch of Derrick Henry explosive runs on first and

11:4410 that kind of skewed that a little bit because he's Derrick Henry speaking of first ballot Hall of Famers.

11:50But they were very balanced on first down almost a dead 50 50 run pass split on first down and on their first down passes.

11:58They were third highest in play action rate at 54.2%.

12:01So yes, they threw a lot, but they also threw a lot off play action.

12:06And the reason why the play action worked is because they worked at 50 50.

12:11There wasn't really tendencies for DCs to get a good feel for in terms of whether they were going to see a

12:18runner pass because it was like four different formations and it was all under center.

12:23Everything was condensed. It all looked like run and hit you at play action.

12:27Obviously, it's tough to stop Devante and Puk over the middle and all that.

12:32Like it was just a very, very well-oiled machine on first down.

12:36Consequently, because of those first down tendencies, the Rams have the most plays run on second and medium this season at 139, 18 more than second place.

12:44So they had a bunch of second and manageables.

12:47Again, we talked about how other teams when they would get into that, they would treat that as a rundown, especially Chicago.

12:54They would treat second and medium as a rundown because they knew that they were like a 72% conversion rate on third and short.

13:02So like, all right, if we can get four yards on second and five, set up third and short, like we're a

13:09great third and short team, run it again, get first down, take our shot on first down.

13:15The Rams were the opposite. They passed a lot on second and medium.

13:19They were a not very heavy run team on these, these second downs.

13:23And because of that, they were obnoxiously good in terms of generating explosive plays and also generating just first downs on second down.

13:30Their second down conversion percentage was 41.1%, which is crazy high relative to the rest of the league.

13:36They didn't even get to third down that often because of that, because they were getting so many first downs on first down or on second down.

13:45They have the third fewest third down plays run this year at just 193.

13:49The Chargers, meanwhile, who we talked about last week is constantly being in third and long.

13:54They had the most third down plays at 251.

13:57So you're taking 60 third down situations off of Matthew Stafford's plate, which is great because they weren't actually that good of a third down team.

14:06They were weirdly better in third and long than they were in third and medium.

14:10So again, they were incentivized to avoid third and medium.

14:14They were the worst team at converting third medium in the league.

14:17Again, doesn't sound right for what the Rams were, but they just weren't that good at it.

14:23So if they could avoid third medium, they would, which means getting a conversion on second down because of these general pass happy trends on early downs.

14:32They had 165 total explosive plays, second only to Buffalo, and they were only second by one.

14:37The interesting part about that is that 28 of those explosive plays came to play after an explosive play.

14:43It was because again, they would chain them together.

14:46We're going to do a play action shot on first down.

14:50We hit that, get to the line, do it, do it again on first down, get another one.

14:55They would constantly chain these explosive plays together and just score incredibly quickly.

14:59It was part of the reason why they would just overwhelm people.

15:03For comparison, the 49ers who we talked about yesterday, they were what?

15:07Sixth best in EPA per play through the air.

15:10They had like a crazy high scoring drive percentage.

15:13Once Purdy got back in week 11, the 49ers only chained together explosive plays 11 times last year.

15:19Rams more than doubled them. Even Seattle, who were among the league leaders, only did it 20 times.

15:24So the fact that the Rams were able to do these chained explosives like that to me was their superpower.

15:31They could tilt games really, really quickly by doing that.

15:34It was a big reason why the pass rate against their defense was so high is because you could go from tied

15:41to down 10, down 14 in like four minutes of game clock with how they did this.

15:47Team in a way. And if you got caught in the wrong side of that burst, you were kind of screwed.

15:53And that was before they got miles in AD.

15:56And you talked about it earlier in this series in terms of explosive play rate, in terms of what it does to your scoring percentage.

16:04It absolutely jacks it through the roof. I'd be fascinated to know what happens if you get two explosives in the same drive because it's really, really rare.

16:13It's got to, it's got to jack the percentage to like 60%.

16:17You know, it was 40 with just one. If you have two in the same drive, as rare as that is, I

16:24would imagine those drives end in points very often.

16:27It is the highest level of expression of offense in the sport.

16:31Like it is among those leaders. You can pick your favorite combinations, but you don't get to more than two or three

16:38before you get to McVay and Stafford. And again, he isn't thrown by anything.

16:42Stafford. He knows what's coming. He often knows what's coming pre-snap, sees it, knows it, knows he can hit it, still has the physical capability to do it.

16:51We've seen quarterbacks at his age who have the mental capacity, but their arms are failing them at that point.

16:58Late career Peyton, late career Drew Brees. They just, they couldn't throw it like they couldn't anymore.

17:03Stafford can still rip it despite all his injuries.

17:06It doesn't make any sense at all. So whatever that chamber does, I kind of want one.

17:12I'm just jealous of that, but he can absolutely still sling the football and it's combined with mental acumen and he's kind

17:19of play caller with a photographic memory, which is completely unfair.

17:22That's a, that's a totally separate side rabbit hole.

17:25It's not what you want to face as a defensive coordinator, as a defensive player.

17:30You might say you want to face the best until you do.

17:34And then you go, Oh yeah, that's why they're the best.

17:37I guess I didn't really want that. We got our asses handed to us today and the Rams were able to do that because of that combination.

17:46I apologize in advance. If you're watching this at like 2am and you get hungry from this ad read, but I could

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19:31They didn't stick at all. And then after the flip, poured in a little reposado, flambate them, added in the tomato, then

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20:41And with that, let's get back to the show.

20:44And then you get to the defense, which already was good.

20:47Now had some profound weak links there, but they were already good.

20:51I kind of want to start with the secondary because the McDuffie and Watson additions have been overlooked because of the Miles and Donald additions.

20:59You think? A little bit. A little bit. So this was a team that had a pretty big issue at corner in

21:06the sense that how their corners matched up. They were a very cover two heavy team.

21:11They were a very quarter, quarter, half and half quarter, quarter heavy team because they felt like their weakness was contesting passes down the boundary.

21:19They felt like they were, you know, small at corner.

21:23And so they would just kind of get manhandled by bigger receivers.

21:26This was a multi-year, multi-year issue, by the way.

21:29So it was a lot of, uh, safeties playing over the top of their corners down the boundary to try to prevent those shots down the field.

21:38And that does limit what you're able to do structurally as a defense.

21:42If you can't trust your corner to at least survive one-on-one outside.

21:46So bringing in McDuffie helps a little bit there.

21:49I will say it's not necessarily McDuffie's forte either.

21:52Right. And, and I don't know if it's just because he has an AJ Brown problem, which is famously the receiver that has given him the most issues.

22:01I do think he's better at contesting those goal balls down the boundary than what they had last year, but it's not

22:08like McDuffie is, you know, gonzo, passer tan, somebody who can like really match size for size and physicality for physicality.

22:15I always think that McDuffie's best spot is a nickel, but the Rams don't really need help at nickel.

22:21Like he will be playing outside for them, but I will say it's, it's still not his best thing, but it is better than what they had.

22:29So maybe it's still worth it because they didn't think that they were going to get a decent corner in this class anyway.

22:37I mean, the best one went at six, they weren't picking at six.

22:41And then on top of that, um, you know, their pass rush was very good, but they didn't finish.

22:47That was the issue that they had with their pass rush.

22:51So they had the sixth lowest blitz rate overall, but if you're looking at their front on paper, you don't have to blitz that much.

22:59And they, they really didn't. They had a really high pressure rate.

23:02A lot of that is because they had a very high stunt rate, highest stunt rate in the league, about 39%.

23:09Part of that is because teams really didn't run the ball that much against them once they got down.

23:15So they felt more free to just stunt and stunt and stunt and, you know, play the run on the way to the quarterback, so to speak.

23:24And again, they did have that high, very, uh, very high pressure rate, but they were 20th in terms of sack conversion

23:31rate, turning those pressures into getting the quarterback on the ground.

23:34And that I think is a big reason why they brought in miles and AD is because miles and AD are just very flexible, very balanced.

23:43They can finish awkward rushes. And I love Jared verse to death.

23:47You know, that verse did struggle to finish the play.

23:50Like he would get pressure. He would collapse the pocket.

23:53But as far as kind of awkwardly contorting himself to turn a collapsed pocket into a sack, he has struggled in that area.

24:00And they felt like, Hey man, we're trying to win a Superbowl.

24:04The difference is getting Sam Donald on the ground.

24:07Like we, we got to get Sam on the ground.

24:10Miles can do that better. I mean, miles can do everything better, but he's fucking miles Garrett.

24:16And same thing with Aaron Donald, you know, one of Aaron Donald superpowers is he could finish the awkward sack.

24:22You know, they would use him also on stunts a lot.

24:26When AD was there was the only real way to like free him up sometimes.

24:31And so he would come screaming around as a looper at a really awkward angle and then flatten at the last second,

24:38get one paw out there, you know, bring down Kyler Murray or Kyler.

24:42Sometimes it just kind of go down himself because he didn't want to die.

24:46And I think that is really what this defensive line was missing.

24:50It wasn't the pressure. It was the finishing the pressure.

24:53Now they got two guys. They can do that.

24:56They got two corners. They can play go balls better.

25:00So they don't have to play as much cover to, if they don't want to, you know, they don't have to play

25:07as much cover six and cover eight. If they don't want to, they can play a little bit of cover three here and there.

25:14They can play a little bit of man coverage here and there.

25:18Didn't do a whole lot of that last year.

25:21Cause they didn't feel like they could. I think they were 20 to the 26th or 29th and man coverage rate.

25:28I got to look that up in the infographic, but either way, not a lot of man.

25:33And I think, I think they were as good as they possibly could have been considering the limitations of what they had.

25:40Now they don't really have any limitations either from a pass rush perspective or a coverage perspective.

25:46And at that point it's like, all right, well now you don't have anything that you can really do against us.

25:52Just institutionally on the defensive side of the ball for the Rams.

25:56This feels very much like what they did on the offensive side of the ball when they traded Jared Goff for Matt Stafford.

26:04Again, Jared Goff. Good call. Very good. Had a ceiling, right?

26:07His, the upper end that the highest of high tier plays, Jared Goff, ton of respect for what he's done.

26:14He's continued to grow in Detroit and he is a very good quarterback.

26:18He is not Matthew Stafford. And they said, in order to get over the hump, we need to get elite at this position.

26:25They did it on offense at that point. It's obviously paid big dividends for him to make that next step, which is

26:32literally the final step to get over the hump, get back to the Super Bowl and win it.

26:38They said, look, we're very good. We have one of the best young defensive lines in football, but in this one area,

26:45we're not finishing at the rate we want to.

26:48We need some finishers. We need to take a very good player and turn him into a great player.

26:54How do we do that? And they did it.

26:57And, uh, you know, Jared verse again, I think he's going to have a very good year in his new home in Cleveland.

27:04I think he's going to become a leader for that defense.

27:08He's not miles Garrett. Nobody is. And the Aaron Donald of it all is just extra on top of that.

27:14That's just frosting. And the nicest possible frosting you could possibly get.

27:18And they went from being very good and very solid and creating pressure at one of the highest rates in the league

27:25to now, if we don't finish those pressures at one of the highest rates in the league, it would be an utter disappointment.

27:33And then we get to special teams. The only like actual weakness of this team last year.

27:38Remember 12 and five for the number one team in terms of power score, you think they would do better than 12 and five.

27:46They didn't. And a significant reason for that was how utterly dreadful they were on special teams.

27:51You had four kicks or extra points blocked last year, tied for the league lead.

27:56I guess that would be league worst technically. Correct.

27:59And it felt like every single one of them was important as well.

28:03And you just can't have that happen. Joshua Cardi, you know, bless him.

28:07I think he was a weapon on kickoffs in some ways, right?

28:11Because he was really good at those dirty kicks and, you know, really kind of making returners life hell.

28:17But they took him off kickoffs around week seven, week eight.

28:21And they started having Evan Brown do it because, you know, as unpredictable as they are for the return team, they're also unpredictable for the coverage team too.

28:30And eventually they just started having Evan Brown come in around week eight, week nine and just do all the kickoffs.

28:36And they were just like, screw it. Just do a touchback.

28:40The number two team in the league in terms of touchback rate was, I think the Jags at 38%.

28:46The Rams were number one at 57%. They were the only team that was even over 40% in terms of their kickoffs being touchbacks.

28:54At some point they're like, screw it. Like we, we will just take the uniformity of you start at the same place,

29:01every single drive, even if it's not the most optimal outcome.

29:04Like we're never going to get you to start a drive on your own 12.

29:09That's okay. We believe in our defense to get stops.

29:12We believe in our offense to put pressure on you.

29:16We at least just want to limit the explosive return potential or the penalty potential and just start at the same spot, every single drive.

29:24And that was a significant weakness, not to mention, you know, part of the reason why the field goals were getting blocked

29:31is because when you try to do kickoffs in that way, like those dirty kickoffs, you do develop a muscle memory for a lower trajectory.

29:39And that's not what you want for a field goal, right?

29:42You, you want to hot your trajectory. That's not going to get blocked by basically any six, four plus defensive lineman in the league.

29:50So the trajectory got screwed up, which meant they were more vulnerable to that.

29:54And it just felt like there was constant special teams issues throughout the entire year, whether it was punts, kickoffs, anything.

30:01And it mired what otherwise was, you know, a almost unassailable team.

30:05The only team that, that really I felt comfortable putting over the Rams last year from a matchup perspective was Seattle.

30:12And if they had, let's say average special teams last year, would they have won more than 12 games?

30:18Would they have got the one seed? Would they have, you know, been the team that, that knocked off Seattle on the play?

30:25Maybe, maybe we'll never know now. But, uh, that I think is, is one of the, the biggest storylines for this team

30:32in 2026 is, is will the, will their special teams improve?

30:36Which brings us to our patron viewer note who asked that exact question.

30:40This comes from Jonathan says Rams fan getting miles Garrett and the chiefs corners is obviously cool and shit, but can you

30:47assure me that we aren't going to blow our Superbowl dreams due to block field goals, muff punts and giving up punt

30:54return TDs again, have the Rams done enough to be just fucking average on special teams.

30:59Can you tell this is bothering Rams fans? I will say my answer quickly.

31:04I don't know. Maybe. So what you're telling me here is that less need has gone from fuck them picks to fuck

31:11them kicks because he is now nice. He is now insulated himself against kickers.

31:15And there have been many coaches throughout NFL history who've been like, I don't want to rely on kickers.

31:21I don't love kickers. Take, take the ball out of the hands slash foot of the kicker and put it in the

31:28hands of the offense and the defense. Let's get ourselves a lead and insulate like let's finish more of these pressures.

31:35Let's get more explosives on offense. Let's just make it.

31:38So those kicks won't hurt us. As far as the low trajectory and the dirty kicks, dirty kicks are the football equivalent of a baseball knuckleball.

31:47Right. Mm hmm. What happens when you throw a knuckleball and it doesn't knuckle?

31:51You give up a three run homer. You give up an explosive.

31:55Right. You basically throw a 60 to 80 mile an hour meatball right down the middle plate that doesn't move.

32:01You start to get to this point where the Rams were midseason or not even midseason, just short of midseason and said, you know what?

32:10We're going to we're going to stop doing that.

32:12We're just going to we're just going to skip that to the point of 20 percentage points higher than the next closest

32:19team and just belt that thing because we're kind of over it.

32:23We want to we think that starting possession is far better than anything we're getting on a, you know, less than 50 percent actually effective dirty kickoff.

32:32So, you know, I get it from an organizational perspective, but along with you, there's times you need your kicker.

32:38I don't care if you're the best team in the league.

32:42There are times the NFL is close enough. Parody is a real thing in this league.

32:47You need your kicker. The end of the half, you need to tack on three points at the end of a game to win it.

32:55In overtime to send you home, you need your kicker.

32:58They they have to hit some kicks. And if they don't, you are at a competitive disadvantage because there are teams out

33:05there that are also good teams that have a consistent kicker that can hit it from 45 to 55 yards regularly, regardless of conditions.

33:13And they're going to give you those three points and they're going to win some games because of it.

33:19Here's a bonus stat for you. Remember, I said they tied for the league lead in field goals and extra points blocked with four for the year.

33:28All four of those happened in the first five weeks of the season.

33:32Can you tell when they said, ah, screw it, we're not going to do this anymore?

33:37Not enough. They shut that shit down quick. So it's it's unfortunate.

33:41But I do give them credit for getting about a month into the years being like, yeah, we're going to we're going to pivot away from this.

33:50Hi, alternate timeline. Brett here before we get to all the 2026 stuff.

33:54If you've liked a lot of the data that we brought up so far, we have companion infographics for every single team,

34:01including the one we're talking about today with over 15000 total data points that we have collected throughout this summer.

34:07Each team gets its own companion infographic, which is roughly about 20 pages long.

34:12It has all the data on this team. You can think of whether it's alignment data, personnel data, cap allocation, coverage data

34:19broken out by down and distance blitz data. I mean, basically anything you can think of.

34:24We've got it. So if you want access to that, you can find that down at the link in the description below

34:31or at the QR code on the screen. Reminder, we also have bonus episodes that go live every single Friday over on Patreon recapping every single division.

34:40We're going to pick division winners, MVPs, rookies of the year, all that stuff.

34:44So if you want bonus episodes plus more data that you could probably handle, that is over on the Patreon.

34:51Thank you once again to all of our patrons that have made honestly this series possible to make in the first place.

34:58We could not have paid the people who help us make it without your guys' financial support.

35:03So thank you to our patrons. Thank you to all of our executive producers on Patreon.

35:08Their names are on screen right now. They have been OG supporters of us and made so much in our lives possible

35:15while we try to chase this dream. So thank you.

35:19Thank you. Thank you. And with that, let's get back to the show.

35:23All right. From here on out, it's all 2026 talk.

35:26Mark, largely the same power structure this year compared to last year, but still notable names that you should keep track of

35:33because statistically speaking, I think 80% of them are going to be head coaches at some point.

35:38Yeah. Tomorrow, possibly. That has been the career elevator for anybody on offense in the NFL is if you spent time on

35:45an elevator with Sean McVay, you were a head coaching candidate within 18 months.

35:50It's crazy, but it just rubs off on everybody.

35:53Apparently, Les Snead, the GM, we've talked about him.

35:56Obviously, very aggressive. Head coach, Sean McVay, still on top of his game.

36:00Again, kind of got to the mountaintop, got knocked off by Vic Fangio, had to wander in the desert for a little

36:07bit and say, hey, what am I going to be good at now?

36:11And did find it, has returned again to the mountaintop.

36:14Not a lot of head coaches do that. He deserves a lot of credit for that.

36:19Assistant head coach this year. This is a change.

36:22Cliff Kingsbury, last two seasons as the commander's offensive coordinator, is now in town as the assistant head coach.

36:28The offensive coordinator, Nate Schielhaus, took five head coaching interviews in this head coaching cycle.

36:33He was a pass game coordinator last year. That is not typical, folks.

36:37Somebody that's not even a full coordinator yet. Half a coordinator, basically, is what that is in the NFL terms.

36:44He is the offensive wonder kid. He will be a head coach sooner rather than later, probably next year.

36:50Could have very well been this year. There were several teams that considered him strongly.

36:55He chose to go back to the Rams. He had offers.

36:58He thought that being with the Rams this year and who can blame him was a better offer.

37:04He is back as offensive coordinator this year. Defensive coordinator, Chris Schula, 10th season with the Rams, third as the DC, son

37:11of David, former Bengals head coach and grandson of Don Hall of Fame, Miami Dolphins head coach.

37:17Special teams coordinator is Bubba Ventrone. Hope he doesn't listen to this podcast.

37:21He wouldn't be very happy with us. In terms of.

37:24Or he'd just be nodding silently of like, yeah, man, that dude's fucked up.

37:28They saw that. Yeah. Okay. In terms of strange titles, the associate coordinator slash quarterbacks coach.

37:34Yes, that is his actual official title is Dave Ragone.

37:37So Dave is former quarterback himself in the league, Louisville legend, played in the NFL for a while, has been a quarterbacks

37:44coach in the league for a long time. And interestingly enough, called plays in the preseason game on August 22nd.

37:50And Stetson Bennett in the postgame press conference came out and credited Dave specifically for his development.

37:56Said my relationship, strengthening my relationship with Dave Ragone has helped me develop to what you see on the field today from

38:03where I was when I came into the league.

38:06And that's a pretty strong endorsement. And again, Dave's been working with a lot of quarterbacks.

38:11He was in Chicago for a while. He's had multiple stops.

38:14He too is probably going to be a full offensive coordinator sooner rather than later.

38:19He's on the shortlist for that every year. The senior offensive assistant on this staff spent his last two years as an

38:26assistant head coach slash offensive pass game coordinator for the commanders.

38:30That's Brian Johnson. So when you look at sort of the stack of offensive power, you've got Sean, who'd be good enough in his own right.

38:38Nate, Dave Ragone, Brian Johnson. Like it just keeps going.

38:41Got to mention the offensive line coach, Ryan Wendell.

38:44Last year on this show, we said Ryan Wendell is under some pressure to do a great job this year.

38:51He has to with Matt Stafford. If Matt Stafford gets killed, this team's fortunes are going to suffer regardless of who's coaching.

38:58He did better than great. First in fewest sacks allowed.

39:01Second in lowest QB sack rate. Fourth in lowest pressures allowed in the NFL.

39:05That is yeoman's work. Congratulations, Mr. Wendell. That is that is amazing helping him out.

39:10The assistant offensive line coach, Zach Cromer. I want to call out that he's got 12 years of coaching experience on his own.

39:18But yes, he is also the son of Aaron Cromer, if the name sounds familiar.

39:22And the assistant wide receivers coach on this staff.

39:25What? Bobby Trees joins the staff. Robert Woods. I know.

39:28One of my all time favorite players ever, by the way.

39:32Yeah. One of our favorite NFL players joins a powerhouse NFL offensive staff.

39:36Be really interesting to see if he takes to coaching.

39:39And where his career goes from here. Because again, many coaching careers have been launched under McVay.

39:45On the defensive side, only two names that I'm going to bring up.

39:49Defensive pass game coordinator and defensive backs coach, Jimmy Lake.

39:52Long time Ram staffer. And the pass rush coordinator.

39:55I bring him up. His name is Drew Wilkins because he might have the best job on the planet.

40:01What do you do? Oh, I coordinate the pass rush for the Los Angeles Rams.

40:06Oh, so you like sit in a lawn chair and watch Aaron Donald and Miles Garrett go to work?

40:12Yeah, that's pretty much my job. Hand some towels and water on the sideline.

40:17Go get them, guys. You're doing great. I got orange slices when you get tired.

40:21I'm just kidding, Drew. I'm sure you're doing a hell of a lot of work.

40:26But it's got to be one of the best workplace scenarios to walk into every morning.

40:31A pinch yourself scenario as an NFL coach to be like, yeah, I got two Hall of Famers doing my work for me.

40:39Yeah, it's going to be fun to watch them today.

40:42I'm not suggesting he do it for free, but I'm saying I would do it for free.

40:47Like that's one of the best jobs in football.

40:50I do want to give a little note slash prediction for Nate Sheilhouse.

40:54So remember, he was in the running last year for a job.

40:58And let's just say it didn't line up. It wasn't the situation that he wanted or the ideal situation for him.

41:05Obviously, he's got a good thing going in L.A.

41:08Maybe go win a ring this year. It's not like he's making no money.

41:12Sure. Living in a great area. Like it's a good job.

41:16You know, why leave that for a job that you aren't 100% locked in on when you know there's a good shot

41:23you're going to get one next year? So I was thinking, what is the ideal job?

41:28Like what what would he want? And, you know, you look around the league at some jobs that we kind of expect to be open, right?

41:37Like we kind of expect Washington to be a team that opens up.

41:41Some would say if the Eagles absolutely implode this year, I'm not predicting they will.

41:46But if they do absolutely implode this year, like maybe the Eagles job is open.

41:50And you'd have to fight great you didn't see for that because he grew up right outside of Philly.

41:56You know, the Jets are one that people bring up.

42:00But I'm looking at a different job here. And it's one that's close to home for Nate Sheilhouse.

42:05He is a Kansas City kid. If this is Andy's last ride, which there's always been like kind of rumors about that

42:12for, I don't know, going on four or five years now.

42:16If this is Andy's last ride with Travis, especially with Travis, because this might be like Travis's last last ride that maybe last year was.

42:24And who knows what's going to happen in the future with Chris?

42:28Obviously, Pat's there for the long haul. I kind of feel like Sheilhouse, if I was him, I would hold out for that Kansas City job.

42:36And I think he would probably be near the top of the list for that one, too.

42:42It would be him. I think EB would get considered for it.

42:46I think Spack would get considered for it. But if they want somebody from outside the building, a young up and coming

42:53offensive mind from the area, very close to the area, and who I think would work wonders with Mahomes as well.

42:59Keep an eye out for him being a dark horse candidate to succeed Andy Reid in Kansas City.

43:05That would be a scary combination. And I think he's going to have to fight Andy for it because everybody keeps predicting Andy's demise in coaching.

43:13And he's, you know. Not demise. You're riding off into the sunset.

43:17That's how I would phrase it. Sure. Him leaving coaching.

43:20Let's put it that way. I'm not wishing any ill on Andy at all.

43:25He is an all-time NFL legend as a coach.

43:28Two different cities. Amazing, amazing work. Nate might have to wait a couple of years if he wants that job, and that

43:35would be the pressure because the pressure is already building.

43:38If you take five head coaching interviews in a cycle, you're a guy.

43:42Like, it's going to be more next year unless the Rams offense absolutely falls on his face, and I have a hard time imagining that happening.

43:51So it's just going to keep going until you basically have to pick one.

43:55When the pressure sort of builds, it's like a stick getting stuck in a river and stuff building up behind it.

44:02And at some point, you just got to jump and say, all right, this is my opportunity.

44:07The other one that I think would be interesting from a – they have a lot of interesting talent, certainly on the

44:14offensive side of the ball, is if the Giants just trip the way we think they might under Hawthorne.

44:21And they just say, screw it. This was a mistake.

44:24Yeah, this did not work. Everything went downhill. Everybody regressed.

44:27We need an answer here that our fans can get behind.

44:30Like, Nate Sheelhoff can come in and look at the offensive talent they have because they've assembled a good group.

44:37The offensive line is good. You know, running backs, you can say what you want about Cam.

44:42Running backs are not that hard to get. Jackson Dart certainly showed flashes.

44:46Needs a little bit of restraint. They have receiver talent, tight end talent.

44:51It would be an interesting destination for him. And, again, if the bar was incredibly low, as we think it might be

44:58for the Giants this year, he could come in, improve their fortunes pretty rapidly.

45:02And that's always a great start for a coaching career.

45:05Before we get to free agency, I do want to shout out our friends over at Woodinville.

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45:16This is just the straight run of the mill six year.

45:20You know, it's my normal. You call it a daily sipper, I guess.

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46:02It's an absolutely gorgeous new bottle. One of my favorite bottle designs.

46:05You can find that all at the link in the description below or at the QR code on the screen.

46:12If you don't like spirits, remember, they do make syrup.

46:15They do. They take their own barrels and they age maple syrup in it and it's delicious.

46:21So get it for the pancake lover in your life or the waffle lover in your life.

46:26Yeah. Even if that's you. Yes. Even if that's you.

46:29And once again, thank you to Woodinville for working with us throughout this entire series.

46:34It is the easiest brand partnership to have. I will I will say that because it's just good shit and we love drinking it.

46:42Brings us to free agency. More turnover here than you typically expect for a contending team, but it's good turnover, right?

46:48Roger McCurry is gone. You swap him out for.

46:51Not one, but two better corners. Kobe Durant also gone with the Cowboys.

46:55Not that I'm like anti Kobe Durant, but you know, if I have to go from Kobe Durant to Trent McDuffie, still an upgrade.

47:03Jared verse again. Great player. You're getting miles Garrett back.

47:06It's that up. That's an upgrade to me. Akella Witherspoon gone.

47:10Jimmy G gone. Rob Havenstein. Now in media. He was calling the preseason games with Jordan with Jordan.

47:16Yep. So I wish him well now that he's on our side of the fence.

47:21Looked great in the preseason doing it. I think he's going to be a formidable Rams media force, but a hell of a career.

47:28He was 34, played a long time in the league, got a Super Bowl ring as well.

47:34Great career for him. Yeah. Bunch of players re-signed.

47:37Obviously, Matt Stafford getting new money is at the top of that list.

47:41Going to call out Tyler Higbee. Very useful player for the Rams.

47:45Already 33. So been doing it a while. Cam Curl in the secondary.

47:49I like this starting safety group for the Rams.

47:52There's three of them that I really like. Cam Curl played 99.1% of the snaps.

47:56He's 27 years old. Gets $12 million. Well-deserved. The last one I want to call out is Xavier Smith.

48:03The wider receiver. He played 20.5% of the snaps.

48:05And a lot of people might say, well, that's not very many.

48:09Why are you calling him out? Well, for a wide receiver three or four in the league who also plays special teams, that's a significant chunk.

48:18And they get him for only a million dollars.

48:21Very effective player in their system. And you have to have players like this on the roster.

48:26The glue guys that tie the entire team together.

48:29You can't just have two or three stars and nobody else in the room.

48:33Xavier Smith has been a very good and valuable piece for them.

48:37They get him back in the fold for just a million dollars.

48:41As far as outside additions, obviously, this is the fun one.

48:45Have to start, of course, Joe Cardona, long snapper, most important signing up this offseason.

48:491.7 million. I guess they also brought in Miles Garrett at 40 million.

48:54That should be noted. The Trent McDuffie trade. Yeah, that also happened.

48:57Jaylen Watson also got 17 million. Good chunk of change for him to be the other starting corner.

49:03And then Aaron Donald coming out of retirement after two years not playing.

49:0720 million dollars off the couch because he's just Aaron Donald.

49:11And we assume he's going to be great. Apparently, he had been training for, I think he said 13 or 14 weeks before he officially came back.

49:20Which basically meant he was obviously coming back. He just wanted to skip training camp.

49:24He's ready to go. He's fine. He's Aaron Donald.

49:27Even if he's 50% of what he was two and a half years ago, that's still probably worth more than 20 million.

49:34So to me, this is a discount. He's the GOAT, at least in terms of interior defensive linemen.

49:40Miles is trying to build a case for the GOAT of edges.

49:44Crazy that the two of them are going to get to play together with the rest of the defensive line that was

49:51already one of the best young defensive lines in football.

49:54So, yeah, Aaron Donald legendarily made out of granite.

49:57I don't want to say workout warrior because that's a term used for people that can only work out and can't play.

50:04But workout warrior in terms of what he goes through and puts himself through and puts others through who come to work out with him.

50:12Yeah, I don't have any concerns about that guy's fitness.

50:15Did you hear the story about the Make-A-Wish kid?

50:18Yep. Yep. Stafford tells it, if you haven't seen it, go look it up.

50:23Make-A-Wish kid just wanted to be Aaron Donald. Had just gotten out of cancer protocol, had beaten cancer, and got his wish granted.

50:30So I think AD was like, all right, you're good.

50:33Let's go. Yeah. No excuses. Pulled no punches and had this kid throwing up in a can because he came to work out and he's like, what?

50:42You wanted it? Like, yeah, he's, again, not concerned about that guy.

50:46And just from a physical standpoint, Kyle Long was on with Kevin Clark the other day and he said, look, they were

50:53talking about guys that could come out of retirement and play spurred on by the Aaron Donald thing.

50:59And he said, look, some guys are just made out of granite, right?

51:03You see these guys 10, 15 years later, he was talking about Terrell Owens, right?

51:08He was like, if you told me that Terrell Owens came back and played in the league, I'd be like, yeah, that tracks.

51:15He's 52 at this point. Like, some guys are just built different.

51:19Aaron Donald physically is built different. And on top of that, incredibly skilled and works very hard.

51:24That's the combination. That's why a guy like that ends up going to the Hall of Fame.

51:30So that takes us to the draft where things were a little less unanimous.

51:34Let's put it that way. First round pick 13 Rams shock.

51:38I don't want to say the world, but a lot of the draft community for sure.

51:43Picking Ty Simpson, the quarterback out of Alabama, 23 and a half years old, had some very nice flashes on tape, then sort of flattened out.

51:51There was a point at which he was kind of ruling the world early in the college season.

51:57Everybody was talking about runaway Heisman and this, that, and the other.

52:01Didn't really end that way. The draft cycle for him was not particularly strong.

52:05It wasn't terrible. He didn't have an awful draft run up.

52:09But I think if you polled most people and said, where do you think Ty Simpson goes?

52:14Their answer would have been lower than 13. I mean, Rams choose to make him the somewhat heir apparent to Matthew Stafford.

52:22That's why you pick a quarterback damn near top 10 at this point.

52:26Stafford is year to year, has said so at this point.

52:29And if he plays well, he'll keep playing. And if he doesn't, he can decide to hang him up at any time.

52:36And the Rams are sort of preparing for that eventuality.

52:39Now, since draft night and all the hue and cry, including ours, I should say, Ty Simpson came out, ran what generally

52:47equaints to a metric shit ton of bootlegs in the preseason and looked really good doing it.

52:52Had a couple of throws. I will say two to four throws in the preseason that were not bootleg concepts.

52:58And again, no, no shade to our namesake, but it is one way to make things easier on starting quarterbacks in the preseason.

53:06That made me sort of sit up and go, oh, OK, that looks like early season last year, Ty Simpson, which was

53:13when all the interest started to build. So jury's still out.

53:16It's too early to say because, you know, it's really even too early to say about the draft picks from last year

53:23as to whether or not they're really good. The ones that haven't even played in an NFL game yet, certainly too early to say.

53:31Early returns look good. Process, I will say, I had some questions about.

53:35So the process part of it, I understood in a roundabout way.

53:39Yes. And what's the stat that we always talk about with backup quarterbacks?

53:43And we also would tell this to every like Shrine Bull quarterback we interviewed because they all know it's like, OK, we're probably going to be backups.

53:52We're going to be, you know, mid round day three guys.

53:56We're going to we're trying to get a job here as a backup and maybe we get our shot as a starter.

54:03And every time we tell them this stat, which is the average number of starting quarterbacks per team every season is two and a half.

54:11They always kind of tilt their heads like, what do you mean?

54:14And I was like, yeah, it's like 70 something quarterbacks start every single year, like high 60s into into mid 70s.

54:21And they always get. Excited by that because they realize, oh, that means I might be able to play like right now, like this year.

54:29It's like, well, statistically, yeah, like some teams like the Browns started four guys, I think, last year.

54:35And I think this Ty Simpson pick, yes, obviously it's for the future.

54:39They knew at that time, hey, we're spending future first on miles.

54:43So we're not going to have a first rounder to pick that successor anyway.

54:48Might as well do it now. So from that standpoint, it made sense.

54:52But the other way it made sense is, you know, reiterating this.

54:56It is not impossible that Matthew Stafford misses games this year.

54:59They got lucky last year that he was healthy.

55:02Didn't start out healthy. Remember, he had the, you know, DBZ chamber on the sidelines during training camp to get himself ready for week one.

55:10And then he was totally fine. But you can't guarantee that for a quarterback his age.

55:15You can't even guarantee it for a rookie quarterback.

55:18Anybody can get banked up. And so when you take a quarterback like Ty Simpson, knowing the odds that your backup is

55:25going to have to play, it then becomes a math equation.

55:29We are in the fight of our lives with Seattle, not just for the division, but for the conference.

55:35We need to get the one seat. We don't want to go to Seattle in January.

55:40Are you out of your fucking mind? We don't want to be on the road in that environment, potentially ruining our year,

55:47having to deal with that wall of sound. We want them to come to us.

55:52If the difference between that is one or two games that Matthew has to miss because of insert back issue here or

55:59ankle or finger or whatever can happen to a quarterback.

56:02We need to feel good about our backup situation.

56:05Can we win a game with Ty Simpson? Can we win two games with Ty Simpson?

56:10I think they thought the answer was yes, because he was experienced in college doing the kind of things that they like to do.

56:18Remember, under center play action. It's like the foundation of their offense.

56:22So let's bring in a guy who A, is the future answer because we're not going to have future picks to take the future answer.

56:30And B, gives us somebody that we can win two games with this year if we need to win two games so we don't fall behind to Seattle.

56:39Because if we fall behind to Seattle, that's how this whole thing can get blown up.

56:44Even with Miles, even with McDuffie, even with AD, even with Watson, even with this offense, the offensive line, the coaching staff.

56:51That can all go away if you have to deal with 60,000 absolute fucking psychopaths up in Seattle late in January.

56:57So let's make sure we don't have to do that.

57:01Let's get the quarterback we believe in that can win us two games.

57:05And I think he can do that. They think so too, or they wouldn't have spent the 13th pick on it.

57:12That's for sure. So you can say anything you want about the future, but even the best NFL GMs or possibly the

57:19best NFL GMs know that now is the future.

57:22Or like without now and working it out the right way, there might not be a future.

57:27So let's do what we need to do for now.

57:30And I understand the pick from that perspective. In the second round, they get a player I really like at 61, Max

57:37Clare, the tight end from Ohio State. Not the flashiest in any particular category, but one of the most well-rounded tight ends in this class, I think.

57:46And had no problem with him being selected in the second round because of that.

57:51Because he can do all those things for you.

57:54McVeigh loves his tight ends. Because Max Clare is currently the third stringer for the second tight end spot, which sounds really

58:01bad for a guy you took in the second round.

58:04But again, remember how good this team was. Remember how powerful this team was.

58:08They have a lot of players they already like.

58:11This is succession planning. They want to run two tight end stuff.

58:15They want to run three tight end stuff. Not that they're going to run a ton of four tight end sets, but

58:22I wouldn't put it past them at this point.

58:25And again, as those guys move on, we talked about Higby being 32 or 33 already.

58:30Like, this is the succession plan for a guy they believe can step right in and be a starter in a two tight end set.

58:38Maybe eventually in a one tight end set if he continues to develop.

58:42So, I like Max Clare's selection here. Young player, not even 23 yet.

58:47So, they've got some time on him to develop.

58:49He doesn't have to be the guy coming in, but he can contribute right now.

58:54He had some nice reps in the preseason. He was another one of these tight ends that I just thought was undervalued

59:01and also just underutilized at Ohio State. Yes. Partially because, I mean, if you're going to throw to anybody at Ohio State

59:08last year, it was probably not the tight end.

59:11It was, you know, the two receivers that we both expected to be first round picks.

59:16Hell, they're both going to be top four picks in their respective draft classes.

59:21You know, Jeremiah Smith and Carnell Tate. So, yeah, he's kind of low on the pecking order, but that doesn't mean that

59:28he wasn't a really, really, really good college tight end.

59:31Again, very physically gifted, way underrated speed. Like, not even sneaky speed, just speed.

59:36Like, when he was able to leg it out, like, you give him a shallow cross and let him go, he's...

59:42It was really, really impressive how quick he could get down the field.

59:47So, I look at his ability as a seam stretcher, as a yak threat.

59:51You know, he's not a terrible blocker. I thought he was pretty solid as a blocker.

59:56You could profile him as, like, a potential actual wide tight end.

60:00And they're kind of stacking a few different guys there that could do that.

60:05So, I think clearly they favor size and length and, you know, the ability to put your hand in the dirt at

60:12tight end over having the 240-pound big slot type.

60:15They would prefer to have a bunch of real tight ends, and he fits that mold.

60:20Just really, really talented guy. As far as comps, kind of reminded me of somebody that they already had.

60:26Ferguson, right? Similar build, similar speed, similar role, similar skill set coming out.

60:30They just keep adding guys that can do that specific job.

60:33And if you have three of them, and you can come out in 13 personnel and still throw the ball deep down

60:41the field, that's a very powerful thing. As we get down towards the end of the third round, pick 93, they get

60:48Keegan Trost, the guard out of Missouri, who fits their mold.

60:51They want people movers on the inside. The Rams team made the shift from wide zone to more man gap and power stuff.

60:58They started getting bigger blockers. Keegan Trost is that.

61:01He can move. Unfortunately, he's on reserve injured, but he fits their type.

61:06And when he comes back, I think he will be a very solid backup for them.

61:11And again, you can never guarantee health on the offensive line and you need it, especially in front of Matthew Stafford.

61:17Trost sort of fits their profile. They had to wait three more rounds for their next pick.

61:23They got CJ Daniels in the sixth. And if you're just looking at CJ Daniels, the athletes, it's not super impressive.

61:30He had a 607 RAS. Why is that? Well, he's decent size, right?

61:34Six, one and a half, 200 pounds. Sort of kind of okay vert at 34 inches, which is great.

61:40But for a receiver, like we're used to seeing, I don't know, 37, 38.

61:44So it's okay. Not like crazy explosiveness. You know, there's a high four, five guy in the 41, six, one split.

61:51Like not super explosive there either. Not the most fluid guys and over seven, three cone as a receiver.

61:57You know, athletically, it just doesn't. It doesn't jump off the page.

62:01I would say it's average at best. And then you watch the absolutely insane catches he was able to make, right?

62:08Famously had that, that gnarly one-hander for the touchdown last year.

62:11And that wasn't the only time he did that.

62:14Like he's got great hands. He's super tough. He kind of profiles as your typical Rams wide receiver four, where he's not

62:21going to blow up the stat sheet, but you're going to throw to him twice in a game.

62:27And it's going to be an important throw. And by God, he's going to come down with it.

62:33He's going to be really tough. He's going to play his role.

62:37If somebody gets injured, you can put him on the field as a wide receiver three and feel okay about it.

62:43They just love these undervalued, tough receivers that catch the ball above all else that are willing to block and just downeaters at the position.

62:51He's, he's very Ramsey in that regard. I understand the people that didn't like CJ Daniels for any number of reasons, whether

62:58it was a statistical profile, something about his physical or even his tape.

63:03I, I get it. I will give you that.

63:06I'm not one of you. I looked at his profile before I started.

63:10And then I looked at the tape and this is one of those players that sort of against all the other stuff.

63:17You watch his tape and you go, well, he shouldn't win, but he does.

63:21There's no way he's going to get that. He does not separate.

63:25There is zero separation on his college tape. He, these two things can be true.

63:30He does not separate. He will still make the catch no matter what.

63:34He's just one of those guys that finds a way to make catches with defenders around him in coverage.

63:40You can call it uncanny hand, eye coordination, toughness, just a knack.

63:44And it's uncanny. It's like, he's covered. They threw him.

63:47There's no way he caught it again. Like every TV he had was in close coverage.

63:52You watch his highlight reel, which is just the touchdowns.

63:56There's a guy on his hip on everyone. And he still made the catch.

64:00I remember reaching out to Matt Harmon. I'm like, I kind of like CJ Daniels, not because of physical size or skill or anything else.

64:08It's just the tape. Like he just catches everything, even though you think he shouldn't because he is quote unquote covered.

64:15It's one of those guys that is still open if he's covered because he will just catch it.

64:21And I can't explain it, but I also can't refute it.

64:24Like he did it often enough that he's going to continue to do it.

64:29I mean, he's a real value at 197. And if you just look at the history of this team, you know, Mumfield,

64:36Whittington, and once upon a time, Puka was their day three dart throw receiver.

64:40And that worked out immediately. They just always do this.

64:43They can find receivers on day three that contribute or in some very rare cases turn into the guy.

64:50I have no reason to doubt them at this point with their day three receiver evals, especially if Bobby Treese is on staff.

64:57Bobby Treese signed off on it. Like we're good to go.

65:00Last pick in the draft. This is an EJ Snyder special.

65:04Yeah, kind of. Tim Keenan, the third. Yeah. Sentient tree stump of a player.

65:08I love his run stopping ability. I do not have any illusions that he will develop into a pass rush threat.

65:15I don't even really want him to. Again, these are the kinds of players you get in the fifth or the sixth

65:22or the seventh round who are just immovable in the run game.

65:26And Tim Keenan was that guy. He did not make the 53.

65:30He was initially promoted to the practice squad. And this is the life of a bottom of the roster player in the NFL.

65:37Then he was cut from the practice squad because they found another player that was on a practice squad that they wanted

65:44to bring in or another player that was cut to take his spot.

65:49So he's currently not on the practice squad. I could see him coming back with the squad.

65:54I low key would not hate it if Ryan Poles reached out and said we could use a run stopper, even if it's just on our practice squad.

66:03Tim Keenan is a guy I think will play in the league.

66:07He does not have an exciting skill set. He has a very necessary skill set.

66:12And man, good luck if you're trying to move him.

66:15He is round mound or rebound in the middle of the defensive line.

66:19You are not getting that guy out of the way.

66:22He's not going to give you a lot else, but he will give you that.

66:27And there's some teams that don't even have that.

66:30I think he'll find a spot in the league eventually.

66:33And then for UDFAs, they actually had six UDFAs that made the practice squad, one of which was Dean Connors at a really strong preseason.

66:41The running back out of Houston. Dan Valari, the tight end out of Q's.

66:46Again, EJ Snyder special. Austin Blaski, the center of North Carolina.

66:49Daryl Peterson, the edge out of Wisconsin. Najir Forkirian, the corner also out of Wisconsin.

66:54And then Nick Anderson, the safety out of Wake.

66:57So, you know, not common to have that many UDFAs make the practice squad.

67:01Was it the Niners that I think we had earlier this week where like 75% of their guys?

67:07Yeah, similar number. They had less guys overall. So their percentage was higher if we're talking about that.

67:13But again, teams that are up against it and paying a large cadre of veteran stars, insert San Francisco and Los Angeles, need to find roster fillers somewhere.

67:22You need cheap labor. And they both went after the UDFA process with vengeance and ended up with six.

67:28And in the case of the Rams, actually seven because Matthew Caldwell is on reserve injured, the QB from Texas.

67:34Like you end up with that many players. Even if it's practice squad spots, you have to fill those two.

67:41And if you do it for no draft capital, that's how you manage when you're paying 80 $20 million out of the ether.

67:48There isn't another way to do it. That is your labor source.

67:52And both teams took full advantage of it this year.

67:55Brings us to ceiling and floor. Last segment for the show.

67:59I understand the temptation to put 17 as the ceiling.

68:02I myself had that temptation. But going back to the 07 Patriots that we brought up at the top of the show, that team was different.

68:10It was just flat out different. I don't know if we're ever going to see that again.

68:16And also the division that the 07 Patriots were in is also just not the same as the division that the 2026 Rams are in.

68:24Second place in the 2007 AFC East was seven wins.

68:27Right. Second place in the 2026 NFC West might be.

68:3013. Yeah. Like it's it's not the same. So I'm putting my absolute ceiling.

68:35At 16. And even that is like it's a stretch of regress that that is conceding.

68:40Yes, they'll probably split with Seattle. I'm not 100 percent confident that they can, you know, take two off the Niners.

68:47I'm not 100 percent confident that they can make it through the entire rest of their schedule without dropping a single game.

68:54I acknowledge the possibility because of how good this team is.

68:57But bring it even more full circle. If the percentage chance of them winning the Super Bowl is like 17 percent.

69:04That's that's not an undefeated type of run here.

69:07That is a maybe or a 15 win team.

69:10Absolute max your 16 win team. The floor to me is 11 because I can't imagine winning less than with all this.

69:17I mean, 11 would be a colossal disappointment. Yes.

69:20But 11 is like everybody gets hurt. Like Miles gets banked up.

69:24Aaron Donald gets banked up. You know, Puka, Devante, offensive line.

69:27Because there's unanswered questions about both Alaric Jackson and Puka right now.

69:31So it's like, who knows? A lot would have to go wrong for them to get to 11.

69:37I think it's like remotely possible. But in the sense that 16 is also remotely possible, I think they're going to settle somewhere in the middle.

69:45So let's call it 13. If 13 is the average outcome, that's the Super Bowl favorite.

69:50And I would say that's that's why my floor and ceiling is such a wide disparity is because their absolute ceiling is so high.

69:58Yeah. Ceiling. It's funny you should mention 15 because that's where I went.

70:02And it's no shade on this team. They play in a killer division.

70:06And is it possible that they could go undefeated?

70:09It is. Do I think it's anywhere near probable even for the best case outcome?

70:14I don't. I think they will drop a couple of games at some point for some reason, whether it be fluky special teams.

70:21They just didn't come out and play their best game.

70:25That happens, right? It is a long season. So I'm going to say best case is 15.

70:30And that is still winning one of the toughest divisions of football.

70:34It is the one seed in the tougher conference.

70:37Like it is the clear leader. So before you get all up in arms that I'm not saying you can go undefeated

70:44Rams fans, know that that is, I believe, my highest ceiling of the series.

70:48My floor is the same as yours at 11 because there is too much talent.

70:53And I mean offense, defense and coaching talent here.

70:56I cannot imagine McVay getting less than 11 wins out of this particular squad.

71:00If they did, or even to your point, if they ended up at 11, that would be a massive disappointment with all the hype.

71:08Well, we're going to see them in action a couple of days from now.

71:13At least I'm assuming this comes out in time before kickoff.

71:16I think it will. On paper, it should. We'll see.

71:19Our editor is a monster, so we'll probably get this out in time.

71:24But either way, they will be playing football this week.

71:27Hope this was a good primer for what you guys are about to see.

71:31Remember, go watch the Niners episode as well to see everything that happened.

71:35Well, not everything that happened. That'd be a whole different show.

71:39So most of the things that have happened this offseason with the Niners, get you ready for that game.

71:45Tomorrow, we have one final team for the 2026 Bootleg Summer Series.

71:49I am so excited. EJ, not just because I love talking about Seahawks, but because it means I finally get to be normal again.

71:57That is very appealing to me and also appealing to my wife who hasn't seen me in like two months.

72:03Yeah, define normal. We have normal-ish. Normal-ish. How about that?

72:06Yeah, normal routine. So we have one more public episode to go, and we also have one more Patreon episode to go in this series.

72:14Remember, we also will have Patreon content all throughout the season.

72:18But as far as Summer Series content, we have our NFC West wrap-up on the Patreon coming out, let's just say, this week.

72:25We'll leave the day ambiguous. But Seahawks episode is back here tomorrow.

72:29Come for that. It'll be live, ideally before kickoff.

72:32And then from there, we're in the season, folks.

72:35It's here. We made it. Barely, but we made it.

72:38So thank you once again for watching and listening wherever you happen to be watching and listening.

72:43And we will see you soon. So we'll see you soon.

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