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Welcome back to Bootleg! On today’s daily episode within our annual summer preview series, Brett and E.J. take a deep dive into the Los Angeles Rams and break down all of their schematic nuances, as well as the roster moves that have transformed this team into the youngest overall group of talent the Rams have had in many years. 2023 might not be perfectly smooth for LA, but at least it will be entertaining!
Time Stamps:
2:41 2022 Effectiveness Summary
7:10 The Rams’ Bootleg Power Score
7:44 2022 Rams Schematic Summary
19:18 LA’s Power Structure
23:32 Which Rams players should you draft?
33:43 Free agency gains and losses
38:41 The Rams’ GIGANTIC Draft class
52:24 Report card and record predictions
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46 Comments
bruh
I'm off from work tomorrow so if you guys want to drop the Seahawks video tomorrow, I would love you guys even more.😂
Not a Rams fan but I loved a lot of the Rams picks. A lot of value.
Evans in the 7th?! Wow! If he can show the requisite maturity and professionalism required to play at this level, watch out.
Nacau would have been in my top 10 receivers if not for the injury concerns. Not a burner but he’s a much more explosive athlete than people think his lower body is very loose.
Byron Young has some serious upside with how incredibly explosive he is.
Bennett, I hated his pre-draft process and it has made me question how serious he takes being a professional but I really like the tape. He’s a very good, very underrated athlete. Twitchy. And has more arm that you think.
Nick Hampton, another explosive, high side rush end that I think has a real chance to develop into a significant contributor.
Davis Allen is a talented guy and can help in both the run and pass game. I wonder if he has that dawg him but he’s very talented.
McClendon I think has a chance at tackle and should at least develop into a solid backup.
Hodges-Tomlinson, obviously the size is an issue but one thing you’ll never question with him is if he has that dawg in him. He’s gonna give you everything every time on the field. I think he’s more of a backup but there’s a chance develops into a starting nickel.
Ochaun, you talk about length and high level athletic flashes, if he can find some consistency he has a chance to be a guy.
Desjuan Johnson is another interesting guy. Has natural leverage and length and explosiveness and provides some inside-outside versatility.
They threw a ton of darts at super high upside guys. And not all of them are going to pan out, but if a few do they could be cooking with gas again in a couple years.
This is possibly the most eye catching title and hooking intro this channel has ever done
I haven’t watched the video yet but god damn really??
Rams should tank for the QBs
In the last 10 years the ram Super Bowl win was my least watched or cared about. California deserves nothing
Rams Defense is going to get cooked.. Aaron Donald isnt as hungry as he use to be. No way all those young players turn out to be solid NFL players. Maybe 20%. At least the NFC West doesn't have a hard schedule this year
If you think that’s hot come to Jacksonville in September
Brett your pronunciation of Hoecht legit made me choke lol
Love these videos, great in depth analysis for us Rams fans thank you
I’m so glad you guys have spread this show out so much! This is the worst part of the offseason and it’s made so SO much better by this series
18:51 Excuse me they WHAT?!
I’m so glad y’all agree that the rams had a great draft! I know I’m a homer but I think they got at least FOUR Legit starters/key contributors in Avila, Young, Turner and Evans. Plus a bunch of depth guys that can potentially become starters
Cant wait for the Seahawks one!
Commenting is good for the algorithm
Rams really assembled the “all rookie” team early
do the seahawks next
0:40 not on twitter?
What’s the song in the intro?
Saying that Wolford and Perkins "played well" last year is hilariously uninformed. What a clown take, did you even watch any Rams games with those guys playing? They were absolutely TERRIBLE. Wolford wasn't even good in the preseason the last two years (Perkins showed "something" this year, that was basically scrambling against other team's practice squad…)
Those guys were not losses, at all. That's such a bad take it honestly makes me question if either of you have any clue what you're talking about. That's like saying Nathan Peterman was "not that bad"
Damn how many jerseys do you have Brett?
Rams lost Ramsey, Nick Scott, Taylor Rapp, Bobby Wagner, Greg Gaines, Leonard Floyd, replaced them with rounds 3-7 rookies and you think they will be better? Maybe in the long run but I don’t see this as being on the same level defensively, let alone trending up.
Just my opinion though
Asking a fantasy/ football question, what are the chances the Matt Stafford plays the whole season healthy? And if he doesn’t how soon do you think the wheels fall off?
Question, where is the segment for the notable position coaches?
Like Zac Robinson, Jay Gruden for offense, or Chris Shula, Eric Henderson, and Aubrey Pleasant for defense?
You guys did it for the earlier episodes, where is it for these latest ones?
Like for Jay, for example, Mcvay coached under him.
Boys this and the Bears is making y'all look really goofy. Stafford not playing very long the CBs are worse than any corner room I've ever seen and the cardinals would have broken that record if not for the Rams. They do have wrs but with Bennett dealing and a bad to awful oline and no defense to be found. I mean the lb room is like division 2 level. The safeties are fine but not rangey or special. It's gonna be an awful year for this team. I mean 2-5 is the range for this team
That is nothing to be discouraged about. The Rams are well coached and actually, their coaching staff got better this year. Their WR group picked up some great utility players, Puka Nacua (remember that name) is going to be a big surprise and a big reason the Rams score a LOT of points this year, which they will have to because the defense will take a few games to gel and find their niche. It's a clean slate in many ways but that's a great thing as the Rams have some incredible veterans to inspire these new guys. People have crowned Seattle this year in the NFC west and deservedly so, imo they only got better and if Geno can duplicate his production from last year, they're going to be HARD to beat. It's the 9ers I'm not sold on, after Purdy the pool isn't deep, Darnold has been shipped around the league, Lance isn't really 'getting it' and we haven't seen a full season of Purdy…I can 'see' a scenario where the Rams come in 2nd in that division and make the playoffs. Don't count them out.
I’m digging Brett repping #10 Super Bowl MVP SUPER DUPER COOPER KUPP 🎉 JERSEY 👍🔥🐐GO Rams 🐏 It’s going to be an interesting season for sure and damn I’m going to miss Jalen Ramsey because he’s a stud player
I still think you guys are overrating this team, this will be a historically bad defense outside of Aaron Donald and Ernest Jones and their best o-lineman is Joe Noteboom?
Rams in recent years have had a knack for turning mid-round draftees into serviceable starters and role players in their system, better than most teams do, so it made sense that they traded around during the draft to get a lot of those kind of guys given their limited draft capital at the top of the draft. It should at least address the depth problems that were there last year, and if they hit on a diamond or two along the way, and get some of the injured guys back, who knows?
Brett, you're a wild one for saying the Rams defense is trending up! 😂
Nick Hampton, Desjuan Johnson and Jason Taylor are all guys I really liked in the draft, but for them to play better than A'Shawn Robinson, Greg Gaines, Leonard Floyd, Bobby Wagner, Jalen Ramsey and Nick Scott, this would have to be the greatest draft class of all time. Lol
If anything, I think the offense is pointint up, largely based on a healthy O-line, which I don't think you guys made a big enough deal here. Those guys got killed losing gaps instantly in the zone run game, which affected everything else they wanted to build off that.
Well done guys! Honestly as a true Ram fan I think we’ll definitely have some growing pains with so many rookies making starts and learning as they go. But I think we’ll see some amazing play because of the coaches we have. We’re going to surprise people this year with wins… truly believe it!!
EJ/Brett…y'all getting cooked in the comments fellas lol 😂
The lack of draw runs given the amount of shotgun they use is always very annoying / upsetting as a fan tbh
Lets go Davis Allen!
One of the ufda rookies I feel most certainly be on the team is Rashad Torrance playing strong safety an I feel like he'll definitely take or compete for jordan fuller spot,
Decobie Durant CB1 or CB2 for his speed an the fact he made plays every time he was on the field even though he had a soft tissue groin injury last year after the falcons game an was put on ir all Oct to early Nov an was on special teams during November until he came back in Dec in week 15 at greenbay,
Tre'vius definitely playing Nickle back to cover the slot, an Robert Rochell plays what ever CB position is left,
Russ yeast definitely gonna play better this season at free safety.
The two DT I feel will be on the line are Aaron Donald and rookie kobie turner or larrell Murchison, with Byron young at DE an Michael hoecht at Edge.
At lb Ernest Jones an Ryan Smeda Jr
Offense I feel kupp at slant receiver with Van Jefferson ar wr1 who I feel is finally gonna come into himself along with Tutu Atwell at wr2 who definitely gonna play better since I feel he'll finally have stafford a full season without getting benched for Allen Robinson,
Ben skowronek I feel is gonna play that fullback an extra tight end role on some plays to take some of the weight off of players like higbee an hopkins, helping block on runs or making big plays as a extra receiver for 1st downs,
For oline Rob havenstein, Steve Avila Logan bruss, Brian Allen are the player I feel gonna protect stafford in the pocket an give him enough time to throw down field unlike how I felt last year in week 4 when the oline was heavily injured an couldn't protect him at all knowing it was going to lead to injuries,
for left tackle tbh I have more trust in Alaric jackson than joe noteboom.
All in all I feel like they'll be 9-8 to 11-6 range or higher if they exceed my expectations.
plus we don't got liam coen this year an man I fucking hated his predictable offensive scheme both years he was OC.
my season prediction
2 wins against the cardinals,
1-1 against the 49ers an seahawks, Bengals get there revenge,
Eagles probably win or mcvay surprises us an pulls something outta the teams ass, steelers take a loss, Ravens take the win, rams finally have a win in green bay,
A win against the colts, a win in Dallas,
loss against the saints, win against the commanders, win against the browns, win against the giants.
Stafford MVP
I cant recall ever seeing a team fall completely apart as fast and as drastically as the Rams did last year. They went from winning a super bowl to a barely viable nfl roster. It was like they made a deal with satan for that ring and he came to collect payment. Nevertheless, they got the reward for their aggressive team building strategy and now is when the real interesting stuff starts. Can they make a repeatable process to building a championship worthy team or did they just play all of their cards right in one season and now will struggle to get above average? This is my favorite part of professional sports, team building.
At 13:35 – this gets into how stats out of context can be misleading, especially for an NFL defense. The Rams pass defense was absolutely terrible, so teams that were looking to score points had no motivation to run – just pass on them, why wouldn't you? But also, their offense was stinky, so for most of the game the other team was in the lead (having scored by passing on them), and looking to slow things down and burn clock – by running. The Rams knew they were going to be run on because of the score, so they would sit in cover 3…..which results in a misleadingly good EPA/Play on run defense, since the other team wasn't really trying to score by running, but just burn clock to end the game. It's a conundrum – are teams passing because you're good against the run, or are they passing because you're terrible against the pass? 2022 Ravens had the same weird thing going on – the pass defense was such a disaster that it made the run defense appear strong in the stat sheet, when it really wasn't anything special.
The Rams are probably the top serious contender to beat the Cardinals to the #1 pick next year. And they play each other twice. Those games should be awful but the larger franchise-level strategy impacts of those two games could be massive.
Anyone who says aaron Donald can’t defend the run doesn’t watch football
Great episode!! Appreciate your insights!! Go Rams!
9-8 this season. #hornsup🤘🏻
I can't wait to watch these young edge and DLine prospects. Hampton is so long and sudden. I think if he puts on some healthy weight he'll be an assassin on 3rd and long.
McVay started running Duo after the first Superbowl. It was Brandon Staley who told him how to beat the Fangio style D with the Duo concept when he came over to the Rams.
I'd rather listen to you than ESPN "personalities" yelling at me.