What questions remain for the Rams entering OTAs?
The Los Angeles Rams will be one of 21 teams that begin organized team activities (OTAs) on Monday. With five OTA practices, the Rams will need to make the most of those prior to the beginning of training camp this summer. The Rams have OTAs scheduled for Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday this week before going on Tuesday and Wednesday next week to wrap up the OTA period. Here are give questions for the Rams entering OTAs.
1. How will Steve Avila Transition to Center?
One of the biggest changes to the Rams offensive line from last year is moving Steve Avila to center. Overall, there shouldn’t be too much to be concerned about here. Avila played center for two years at TCU and only moved to left guard out of necessity. The same could be said last year when Avila played left guard as a rookie because the team already had Coleman Shelton.
It’s clear that the Rams wanted to get bigger on the offensive line which is why moving Avila to center makes sense. Still, when you take a player who was succeeding at one position and move him to another, there is going to be some uneasiness. Avila should transition fine, but it will be something to keep an eye one, especially as he develops a snapping rapport with Matthew Stafford as well as take over making protection calls at the line of scrimmage.
2. What changes will Chris Shula make to the defense?
We won’t fully see what changes Chris Shula makes to the defense until the beginning of the regular season. The team doesn’t allow for any reporting on scheme during the offseason and they will likely run a very vanilla defense during the preseason. Still, the beginning days of OTAs are when “install” happens and if there are any changes to the scheme, this is when that process begins.
Due to the fact that this is Shula’s first stint as a defensive coordinator and he has a background under a lot of different coordinators, nobody really knows what his defense is going to look like. It’s likely that the underlying philosophy and the core structures of the scheme that the Rams ran under Brandon Staley and Raheem Morris will remain the same. With that said, Shula will certainly introduce some unique twists.
3. Which Rookies Will Stand Out?
Last season it was Puka Nacua who was catching eyes from the get go. To be clear here, to expect another Nacua-like rookie to emerge this year would be an unfair bar to set. However, that’s also not to say that a rookie won’t stand out this offseason. The Rams had a first round pick for the first time since 2016 and took Jared Verse. Making an impact without pads can be difficult for an edge player and therefore Verse may not get a lot of attention until training camp. The same can be said about Braden Fiske who plays on the defensive line.
Rookies to watch here may be Kam Kinchens at safety and Blake Corum at running back. Corum was an exciting player at Michigan and somebody that the Rams were elated to add to the run game. It would not be surprising if Corum is the player that steals headlines when it comes to the rookies during offseason workouts.
4. How does Tre White Look Post-Achilles Injury?
One of the bigger names that the Rams added to their defense this offseason was former Buffalo Bills cornerback Tre White. When healthy, White has the upside to be one of the top cornerbacks in the NFL. With that said, White has only played 10 games over the last two years due to an ACL and Achilles tear.
The Rams team doctor did the surgery on White’s achilles and will know better than most what that looks like. With that said, achilles injuries are a big deal, as the Rams should know given their experience with Cam Akers. That’s not to mention White is 29. It’s fair to wonder if White has lost some explosiveness and what his level will be when he returns to the field.
5. Matthew Stafford’s Contract Situation
This is going to be something that lingers throughout the offseason. Stafford wants more guaranteed money and it was something that was brought up during the draft. The Rams want to get a deal done, but it’s also something that needs to make sense for both sides. It’s unlikely that this is an extension, but rather just a re-worked deal.
My guess is that this is something that gets done between OTA’s and training camp. There was a report that the Rams tried to re-structure Stafford’s contract last offseason and he declined. This could be another offseason with some Stafford contract drama.
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