As Los Angeles Rams fans’ confidence remains strong, rest of NFL sees confidence renewed after free agency, draft

Welcome to SB Nation FanPulse — a survey of fans across the NFL. Throughout the offseason, we send 32 polls to plugged in fans from each team. Los Angeles Rams fans, sign up HERE to join FanPulse.

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We’ve had three installments of FanPulse since the end of last season.

In late March after the first wave of free agency, we learned that Los Angeles Rams fans remained extremely confident about the trajectory of the team and were even quite bullish of the effects of free agency on the roster overall.

A week later, we learned just how silly fan votes can be when just 75% of respondents across NFC West fan bases suggested the Rams were the favorite.

And then as we headed into the 2019 NFL Draft, we saw a majority of Rams fans tab the offensive line as the biggest roster gap.

Now coming out of the draft, we’ve got updated confidence votes that say less about the Rams as they do plenty of other teams across the NFL.

Unsurprisingly, Rams fans remain extremely confident about the team:

And why not? The Rams remain one of the top teams both in the odds and in power rankings. There’s no reason to think the Rams won’t be competitive yet again in 2019.

What’s more interesting this week in our FanPulse results is how quickly optimism has resurfaced for the more apoplectic fan bases at season’s end. When we polled fan bases at that point, there were eight such audiences that responded with confidence levels below 30%. All of them are now over 60%.

It’s amazing to see it in real-time.

Check out the Washington Confidence Finders’ fan base:

Or the Pittsburgh Steelers:

Or the Denver Broncos, Arizona Cardinals and Jacksonville Jaguars:

We know that every year, a majority of fans for a majority of teams experience unforeseen disappointment. And we’re seeing why.

Every offseason, we refill the wellspring of optimism for every team heading toward training camp and the preseason. By the time we’re halfway or ²⁄₃ through the season, that wellspring has been drained by a majority of teams thanks to their not winning.

Well...except for Tampa Bay Buccaneers fans.

Fascinating stuff. Thankfully, the Rams seem to be beyond the threshold of pulling us back into despair.

Good times.