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Even a quiet 2023 offseason by the Los Angeles Rams led to vocal responses from various NFL executives.
Speaking on the condition of anonymity with NFL insider Mike Sando of The Athletic, different executives were polled by him in a Tuesday, April 4 feature on how each NFL team fared during the month of free agency, including the Rams.
The responses were a strong mix of understanding what the Rams were doing, to one revealing if they believe it’s a rebuild going on inside the “Rams House” all the way to one giving a prediction of how Sean McVay will respond in 2023.
One Exec Brings up Botched Trade Idea
One red-hot possibility that surrounded the Rams: The potential to trade for one Pro Bowl defensive end from the NFC South. One executive brought that up in his conversation with Sando.
“In my head, I was like, ‘How did Carolina not trade Brian Burns to the Rams for two ones (first rounders) and a two last season?’” an exec said of a proposal the Panthers rejected. “Now, the Rams are pivoting, probably thinking, ‘Good thing we didn’t do that.’”
From there, that same executive told Sando this very thought about the Rams: “They are kind of in rebuild mode.”
Burns was a topic of trade discussion before the midseason trade deadline in November 2022. Burns even sent out a cryptic Instagram story post of a Ram. But later told his followers “I just like animals.”
Burns is currently preparing for a Rams-style defense in Charlotte. The Panthers’ newest defensive coordinator is former safeties coach from the Rams’ Super Bowl 56 run Ejiro Evero, who is joining the new staff that’s been installed by Frank Reich.
Other Execs Sound Off, Including One With McVay Prediction
Meanwhile, two more executives who spoke with the insider sounded off on the Rams’ 2023 offseason. One shared this belief.
“Apparently, they invented using draft capital to trade for veteran players,” an exec from another team told Sando. “Nobody was doing that before they started doing it.”
Those veterans include Jalen Ramsey, who was sent away to the Miami Dolphins before the official start of the 2023 NFL calendar year on March 12. Then the team lost free agents Greg Gaines, Leonard Floyd, Baker Mayfield, David Edwards, Bobby Wagner and both starting safeties Taylor Rapp and Nick Scott. Currently pending? The future of wide receiver and top offensive addition in the 2022 offseason Allen Robinson, who is still seeking a trade.
Are the 2023 Rams already being written off? One executive doesn’t seem to think so…though that same exec envisions coach McVay getting back to his style of football.
“I think Sean McVay gets back to his roots and stops being a drop-back team and a gun team and gets back to under center and doing your boot/naked movement and your mid and wide zones, your speed sweeps,” another exec said. “They can still be fairly formidable on the offensive side of the football. That will have to carry them.”
While Sando spoke with anonymous personnel, Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay didn’t shy away from being blunt about the Rams. Irsay, via NBC NFL insider Peter King in King’s column Football Morning in America, had this to say:
“There was an article recently saying the Rams mortgaged their future and now they’re paying for it after they won the Super Bowl and had all that success, with the draft picks not being there. To me, that’s what you have to be careful about,” Irsay said.
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