Los Angeles Rams Have Biggest Roster Hole in NFC West
By Dan Salem
They may be better than their division rivals, but the Los Angeles Rams have the biggest roster hole of any team in the NFC West. Its simple math. The players added in the secondary fall short of filling the shoes of those lost in free agency.
Dan Salem and Todd Salem debate in today’s NFL Sports Debate. Two brothers from New York yell, scream, and debate sports.
TODD:
The final National Football Conference division we come to in our task to name the biggest roster hole in each division in football is the NFC West. We already covered this conference’s North, East and South, arriving at who we thought had the biggest hole in their 53-man depth chart.
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In the West, the Arizona Cardinals were one of the best teams in the NFL last year and look to be setup in that vein again in 2016. They have so few need areas, they took a major gamble on a talented player in the first round at a position they just made a trade to shore up earlier in the offseason.
The Seattle Seahawks are beginning to leak oil after years of bargain-basement contracts for star players is catching up with them. They had dire needs on the offensive and defensive lines but were able to address those somewhat with their 10 draft picks. I’m still not sure who this team’s starting left tackle is, but the overall unit isn’t in as bad of shape as it was a few months back. That’s certainly something.
The San Francisco 49ers have holes up and down their roster. Ironically perhaps, I don’t feel as though any are enough to factor into this argument. Rather than owning glaring areas of need, San Francisco is instead just kind of crappy across the board.
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For the new-look Los Angeles Rams, they enter with a new home and the biggest hole of any team in the NFC West. I am wary of the secondary after Los Angeles lost a few key pieces from that unit in free agency. Janoris Jenkins signed with the Giants; Rodney McLeod joined the Eagles. Those were arguably the team’s two best defensive backs. Though Trumaine Johnson still remains, he is one piece of a suddenly depleted unit.
LA did nothing to help that during the draft, instead making the trade up for its quarterback and using most of its remaining picks on pass catchers. Coty Sensabaugh, who has only been a regular starter one year of his career, was the big offseason acquisition for the secondary. The Rams went from having a strength at DB to a weakness that will now rely on major production from a number of unproven sources.
DAN:
I truly want to disagree with you, mainly because I like the LA Rams heading into 2016. Their offense has a ton of young talent and even the lack of proven depth at wide receiver doesn’t scare me. I considered labeling the tight end position as the biggest roster hole of all, but ultimately its not a major concern for this football team. They drafted two young players to compete at tight end.
You summed up the remainder of the NFC West perfectly. Los Angeles has the most hope and promise of any team going forward, but they won’t be winning this thing next season. The 49ers are worse for wear, but the only real glaring roster hole is in the secondary of the Rams. They lost most of their punch to free agency, without bringing in any young blood to fuel a new fire.
The Rams were in the bottom half of the league last season in passing yards per game and interceptions. To further the issue, Los Angeles allowed nearly the highest completion percentage to opposing quarterbacks. Only four teams were worse. New players were brought into the defensive backfield, but they are too green for me to give them any credit right now. With no second or third round draft picks, it was difficult for the Rams to address this need through the draft, and they failed to do so.
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Los Angeles may ultimately be saved by a formidable defensive line. Their pass rush can cover for deficiencies in coverage, but if L.A. doesn’t get more interceptions this season, they will be playing from behind far too often. At this juncture their additions certainly don’t outweigh the players they lost. The biggest roster hole in the NFC West belongs to the Rams.