Random Ramsdom: (At first) Marshall Faulk was reportedly not keen on hiring Sean McVay

The regular season of football fast approaches and training camp will be here before we know it. Soon there will be plenty to talk about and it’s going to be fun. Jourdan Rodrigue, of The Athletic, has this really cool project called The Playcallers. I have listened to about one and half episodes and am looking forward to more! I highly recommend football fans (or even fans of coaching or sports in general) check it out.

The first article for today references Rodrigue’s project and I should have at least a tweet or two posted below as well. Please comment on anything you’d like, check out our community question at the bottom and thanks for checking us out today!

Rams ‘Stupid Move!’ Marshall Faulk’s Change on Coach Sean McVay Hire (fannation/ramsdigest)

“Today, Los Angeles Rams coach Sean McVay is widely seen as one of the NFL’s best.

It’s not hard to see why that’s the case with the resume McVay has built up. In six seasons as the Rams’ coach, McVay has led the team to four playoff appearances, two NFC titles and a Super Bowl LVI championship. He has done all this and more in just his 30s, and his impact on the league is still being felt.

When the Rams hired McVay, though, many doubted the move. After all, McVay was just 30 years old at the time, making him the youngest coach in the Super Bowl era. As such, many had their concerns with the hire, including legendary Rams running back Marshall Faulk.

In a recent appearance on The Athletic’s “The Playcallers” podcast, Rams COO Kevin Demoff told the tale of the team’s first meetings with McVay. He recalled Faulk’s harsh words for the Rams’ brass, criticizing the team for even considering such a young candidate.

“Marshall was the perfect person because he was explaining to me why we had needed a veteran offensive mind to be the head coach,” Demoff said. “And he was happy to go to dinner with this 30-year-old, but he thought that was stupid, and that we were stupid.”

However, Faulk’s doubts didn’t last long. By the end of the meeting, Faulk changed his tune dramatically, telling the Rams they can’t afford to lose McVay.”

5 undeniable reasons for an LA Rams bounce back season in 2023 (ramblinfan)

“It’s easy to casually scoff at and deride the LA Rams’ offensive line play in 2022. But that is misplaced blame. There are two groups in professional football that depend heavily on communication and continuity. One unit is the defensive secondary. Defensive backs must call out who has which responsibility, instantly, as the play is happening in real-time. The other unit is the offensive line, which must communicate in real-time as well, calling out blocking responsibilities.

That communication breaks down when the offensive line never starts the same five guys in consecutive weeks. How bad was it? Just to refresh everyone’s memory, it was a critical mass last season:

Of course, many of those veterans that stepped in and stepped up for the team are now gone. But that does not mean that the Rams front office sat idly by and are waiting for the next round of fire drills to patchwork an injury-riddled roster to begin. Rather, the Rams roster has added five new rookies, including sure-fire starter Steve Avila. The only question with Avila is where will the Rams start him?”

In 2014 draft, Rams turned down ‘pretty enticing’ offer for pick used on Aaron Donald (ramswire)

“Brad Holmes, who was the Rams’ director of college scouting, revealed on “The Season with Peter Schrager” that St. Louis received strong offer for the 13th pick in the draft that year. Fortunately, the Rams emphatically turned it down, but had they made the deal, they likely would’ve missed out on the future Hall of Famer – assuming the team that wanted to move up was targeting Donald.

“The sights were set on Aaron Donald,” Holmes said of the Rams’ target at No. 13 overall. “And I’ll never forget we got to that pick and a team called and they offered a pretty enticing trade offer. And I remember Jeff (Fisher) and Les (Snead) were like, ‘Absolutely not. We’re picking this guy and that’s just it.’”

Snead and Fisher obviously liked Donald a lot, as did Holmes – especially after seeing him work out and prepare before the draft. But it was Ray Agnew, former assistant general manager of the Rams, who really pounded the table for Donald.

“And I’ll never forget in that draft meeting, our assistant general manager, Ray Agnew, he was the one that really like – in that draft meeting leading up to that draft, because a lot of people were saying because of his size, he was going to be sub-rush, specialized package nickel-sub-rush guy,” Holmes recalled. “And I’ll never forget, Ray Agnew was like, ‘No, no, no, no, no, no, no. He’s every-down. It’s no specialized nothing. And he said it with the most passion.”

The NFL is full of what-ifs, but thankfully, we don’t have to worry about this one with the Rams. They stood pat and took Donald at No. 13, which is one of the best picks in franchise history.”

Bills Trade for Cooper Kupp? Inside Wild Scenario (fannation/billscentral)

“The Rams are an older team and their Super Bowl window is probably closing, if not already closed. If the Rams decide in the season that this isn’t going to be their year, they have two players that would generate a lot of interest and the Buffalo Bills should be interested in both,” FanSided writes.

While the outlet insinuates a trade for Aaron Donald could be in play, we’ve already covered that hypothetical scenario. So, let’s key in on Kupp.

“The first is wide receiver Cooper Kupp, who was only able to play nine games after dealing with injuries last season,” FanSided concluded. “However, the year prior to that he led the league in receptions (145), receiving yards (1,947), and receiving touchdowns (16).”

The addition of the veteran wideout would almost assuredly give Buffalo the most dangerous offense in football if it wasn’t already. Kupp finished third in MVP voting in that 2021 season, en route to winning a ring and Super Bowl MVP.

His 6,329 receiving yards in six seasons is also nuts. The 30-year-old has plenty of football left in him, and lining up Kupp and Diggs in the same offense would just be unfair to everyone else.

However, this remains another wild offseason trade idea that has no reported traction as of now.

But there is the age factor with Kupp. Coming off a season that saw him limited due to injury and already with a history of a torn ACL, there’s no guarantee that he’ll be able to stay healthy this season. Should the Rams experience another slide down the standings, it’s not the craziest scenario to imagine them trading their star receiver while his value is still high and go into rebuild mode since the rest of their core is also aging.”

My question for today is do you think you’ll check out “The Playcallers” podcast? I wanted to take a break from the usual Los Angeles Rams questions but if you want to talk anything Rams please do so below! Please keep visiting our site, checking out our articles and thank you so much for your support!