Which Rams player is most critical for the offense in 2020?

The Philadelphia Eagles got terrible news, unfortunately the type of news that comes around to NFL teams quite often, when they learned that a star player would be out for the upcoming season. Pro Bowl guard Brandon Brooks tore his Achilles on Monday while working out at the NovaCare Complex and is not expected to play if there is a 2020 season.

ProFootballFocus rated him as the best guard in the league in 2019 and arguably as one of the top-10 offensive players in the NFL.

Fans and media can debate endlessly about the value of a guard compared to another position but Brooks certainly helped them win a Super Bowl in 2017 and was one of the best players to count on for protecting the oft injured Carson Wentz. Philadelphia has had one of the best offensive lines in football for quite some time but next season will be transitioning to Andre Dillard at left tackle and perhaps rookie Jack Driscoll in place of Brooks at right guard.

As we saw with the 2019 Eagles receiving corps, perceptions can change quickly. We also know this from watching how the LA Rams offensive line was viewed in 2019 as compared to 2017-2018.

With Andrew Whitworth and John Sullivan added to the fold in Sean McVay’s first season, the Rams offensive line instantly went from one of the league’s worst to one if its most valuable units. That remained true for two years but the line was a weakness in 2019 and yet they’ll be returning pretty much every starter. That alone could make Whitworth the most important member of the line, if not the most important person on the offense.

Even more important than Jared Goff.

But what about cases for Cooper Kupp or Robert Woods? If Goff didn’t have Woods or Kupp next season, could he get the job done effectively with half of that tandem, Josh Reynolds, and Van Jefferson? They also have two quality tight ends in Tyler Higbee and Gerald Everett, though the fact that there are two of those guys means that we probably don’t have to worry as much about losing one of them. This was on display in the final five games of 2019 as Higbee led the NFL in receiving yards over that period of time.

Others may have argued that Todd Gurley was actually the most important player to the offense in 2017-2018 and his inability to do Todd Gurley things is what contributed to disappointing play by Goff and therefore, everybody else. Does this make Cam Akers or Darrell Henderson especially important to the next version of the offense?

The answer may be obvious but it is up for debate and that debate can begin now.