Random Ramsdom: COO says no, but should LA break out a new uniform this season?

Kevin Demoff (I assume) is smart guy. Smart probably doesn’t do it justice. That being said, he collects a paycheck (I again assume) like many of us try to do. Nothing wrong with that. However because I know he is an employee of the Los Angeles Rams, I know that he should be a company man and say what the Rams (and Stan Kroenke) expect him to say.

Where am I going with this? Read the first article below (read them all!) and or read this next quote from the top article: “we’re not going to add a uniform for the sake of adding a uniform.”

This is a business and if the Rams and NFL have an opportunity to make money by adding a uniform, what are they going to do? My money (and so does theirs) says add a uniform. I get the sentiment, a new uniform every year could be overkill, but I say give the people what they want! Call it nostalgia (or call them better uniforms), give me back what Eric Dickerson wore, give me back what Kurt Warner wore. Those uniforms should be worn at least once every year.

What uniforms do you think the Rams should go with, or do you think they should find a new one? If you like the current ones I don’t disagree. They are fine, but the best the Rams have had? I don’t know. I’ve also never worn any of these uniforms so what do I know! I am no costume designer.

Thank you checking out today’s links, I hope my preamble up top was at least vaguely amusing. I’ll give you another question for free today, should the Los Angeles Rams be ranked 28th over the three years? You can read about that below too, I don’t have ESPN+(my loss) so I don’t exactly know what was written, but I laugh out loud at how reactionary sports and life in the NFL is.

If Sean McVay stays the next three years are you going to tell me they don’t make the playoffs once? They are so uncompetitive that they are a bottom third team over the next three years? I am questioning an article that I haven’t even read! That’s a good habbitt.

Have a great day, please comment below, let us know what you think and thank you for being here!

COO Kevin Demoff shares disappointing news on Rams’ plans for new uniforms (ramswire)

“Los Angeles Rams fans have been anxiously waiting for the team to release new uniform sets, but they’ll have to wait a bit longer. On the most recent “11 Personnel” podcast from Rich Hammond and Jourdan Rodrigue of The Athletic, COO Kevin Demoff went on to update fans about the team’s future uniform plans.

“We’re not going to introduce a new jersey this season. We looked at a lot of different concepts over the past year and none of them felt like the right jersey to introduce,” Demoff said. “At this time, at this moment, whether it was looking at true alternates or throwbacks from different concepts historically, there was nothing that seemed like a great fit. We’ve always made it clear that we have the ability to add new uniforms. We also said we’re not going to add a uniform for the sake of adding a uniform.”

The Rams made the change last season to deploy their white “modern throwback” jerseys as their primary road uniforms. Demoff proceeded to say that the organization feels comfortable with their current uniform sets that are available, and a change isn’t necessarily coming in 2024 either.

“I think that’s really where the group landed this year and I think we feel very comfortable with the uniforms we have in the closet right now. Especially with last year’s change of making the white uniform our primary away uniform. I don’t think next year we’re necessarily on a different track. I think we’ll continue to explore. A different idea would have to pop up next year than what we’ve already explored. I think the earliest we’re probably looking at is 2025.”

Future Football: Rams’ Rank Over Next Three Years? (fannation/ramsdigest)

“The Rams’ Super Bowl win percentage (29.4) in 2022 was worse than any other former Lombardi-hoister. In fact, it was the second-worst among all champions in sports history. Only the 1998-99 Chicago Bulls (26 percent) had a worse defending season, and that was because a fellow named Michael Jordan left the team.

Granted, Rams’ Pro Bowl quarterback Matthew Stafford, All-Pro receiver Cooper Kupp and All-Pro defensive tackle Aaron Donald each missed time last season due to injury, making it practically impossible to have success.

However, Stafford began to show his age (35) and struggled when healthy, while Donald, 32, has foreshadowed since the Super Bowl victory that his days in Los Angeles (and the NFL in general) might be numbered. The Rams didn’t make many improvements this offseason, but they selected 14 players in the NFL Draft. However, none of those picks were on Day 1; 11 from Day 3.

That said, the Rams’ future doesn’t look very promising. ESPN took notice, ranking Los Angeles 28th among NFL teams over the next three seasons.

ESPN analyst Louis Riddick said the lack of talent on defense (besides Donald) and Stafford’s age/health concerns last season were major factors in the low ranking. In the present, the Rams are healthy and ESPN’s Dan Graziano predicts a return to the recent past.”

“[Stafford, Donald and Kupp are] ready to make beautiful music together again,” Graziano said. “There are plenty of people here who helped win the Super Bowl just 17 months ago, so McVay could surprise you and return this team to contention quickly.”

ESPN’s Seth Walder explained one way the Rams could improve their future rank is by utilizing the designed rollout.

“Designed rollouts made up 12 percent of the Rams’ plays last season and 10 percent the year before, both league highs,” Walder said. “The Rams recorded 0.18 EPA (expected points added) per play (basically a Chiefs-level offense) on designed rollout drop-backs and minus-0.09 EPA per play on all other drop-backs.”

Rams exec makes it clear LA didn’t try to trade Matthew Stafford or redo his deal (ramswire)

“Demoff made it very clear that the Rams didn’t try to trade Stafford this offseason, nor did they ask him to rework his contract. There were reports of both scenarios, the first coming from Michael Lombardi and the latter from Colin Cowherd, but Demoff denied both rumors this week.

During an interview on The Athletic’s “11 Personnel” podcast, Demoff set the record straight about Stafford’s future in L.A. Though the Rams didn’t shop Stafford or try to redo his contract, Demoff did suggest that teams inquired about him on the trade market.

“Those conversations frustrated me because I think it’s trying to inject narratives that aren’t there,” Demoff said. “I know there are reports that we tried to trade Matthew. We were not actively trying to trade Matthew. I know Les has rebuffed that before. It’s just not the case. I think if you wanted to be in the reality of the NFL, there are 10 teams this year, at least, that are going to have different quarterbacks. We were obviously aggressive in remaking our roster in March. It would be naive to think that people didn’t inquire about what was going to happen with the player who the year before won the Super Bowl. It’s different than whether people inquire, whether there are casual conversations.”

Now, had a team offered a trade package that blew away the Rams, they’d have at least listened, Demoff said. But, that didn’t happen and so Stafford is remaining Los Angeles’ quarterback in 2023 and beyond.

“He is a pillar, we value him highly,” he said of Stafford. “Now, again, if someone did come in offering a ridiculous trade package, I think you owe it to your organization to listen the same way you would anyone. I think Les said people called about nine players during the offseason. That’s grown probably since that time.”

According to Demoff, if the Rams wanted to get out of Stafford’s deal this offseason, they very easily could have. Obviously, that would’ve had to happen before $59 million of his contract became fully guaranteed in March, but if they wanted to walk away from the veteran quarterback with no penalty, they could have.

“We value Matthew highly. Sean made that clear to him in the offseason. Les did. I think everybody did,” Demoff said. “And look, when you hear the report, the part that frustrated me was this notion that we were trying to get away from the $59 million and that was the only way to do it through trade. That tells you that you didn’t have an understanding of the situation. Matthew’s dollars after 2022 were unguaranteed. We could’ve walked away this year, free and clear, for $0. No future money owed. So there was no need to restructure. If we wanted out of Matthew’s deal, we could’ve walked away. We didn’t have to trade him to relieve the $58.5 million. We could’ve just walked away. To me, that’s where there’s a fundamental understanding of what his deal was that drives the narrative, ‘Oh, we were desperately trying to get rid of that.’”

As expensive as $58.5 million seemed, Demoff doesn’t think it’s much money compared to some of the deals other players got this offseason. He even mentioned Jimmy Garoppolo and Derek Carr as comparisons for Stafford’s deal.

“It’s not like this is some outlandish deal,” he said. “There were plenty of quarterbacks this year who signed for $80 million-plus in the first couple of years. So $58.5 million when you’re talking the next years is really not top-quarterback money.”

By picking up Stafford’s option and guaranteeing him $58.5 million, the Rams fully committed to him as their quarterback for years to come. He has cap hits of $49.5 million to $50.5 million from 2024-2026 with very little options for the Rams to get out of it before 2025.

“There were no discussions with Matthew about restructuring his contract,” Demoff said again. “We knew what was on it, but because it was unguaranteed, it could’ve been zero. If we had really wanted to restructure a contract, you just walk away from it and say, ‘Hey, we’ll have a conversation from there.’ The biggest point is it misses (that) this organization is fully committed to Matthew, believe in him, believe in what he did. View last year as an anomaly for a number of reasons.”

Cooper Kupp is the only WR in Madden 24 with a 99 catch rating (ramswire)

“Last season, Kupp only dropped one pass on 95 targets, hauling in 75 of those passes for an impressive catch rate of 78.9%. That came after he shockingly dropped seven passes in his record-setting 2021 season, according to PFF.

His reliable hands are what earned him a perfect 99 catch rating in “Madden NFL 24” this year, the only wide receiver with a catch rating that high. Justin Jefferson, Stefon Diggs and Tyler Lockett all have 98 catch ratings.

According to ESPN, Kupp is “the best in the game in catching (99) and short route running (99)” so he’s going to feast on quick passes in this year’s game. His medium route running rating of 98 is also the best of any wide receiver in Madden 24.

When using the Rams in this year’s game, the offense will funnel through Kupp again. The next-closest wide receiver in L.A. is Van Jefferson, who’s a 76 overall, so there’s quite the gap between him and Kupp (96 overall).”