Rams Reacts Survey: What’s the plans and expectations for 2023 and beyond?

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What is the Los Angeles Rams plan and expectations for the 2023 season? General manager, Les Snead, has repeatedly said that they are in a retooling year and not tanking the season. However, the idea of tanking to get a higher pick in the NFL draft is something that could actually benefit the Rams this season for the first time since 2016.

Without a trade being made between now and next year, the Rams will hold a pick in the first round of the NFL draft, something they have not done in eight years. After finishing 5-12 this past season, they missed out on the chance to select in the top six picks, due to their trade to acquire Matthew Stafford. While this trade worked out for LA and they won the championship in 2021 with Stafford, it was a gut punch for fans to finish so poorly in 2022 and have no silver lining of a high draft pick.

2024 is being perceived as a strong quarterback draft class, toting USC’s Caleb Williams and UNC’s Drake Maye as potential franchise changing QBs. It’s hard not to think the Rams may be considering tanking internally to move up higher in the 2024 draft, especially with Matthew Stafford only getting older and rookie Stetson Bennett’s rough showing in the preseason.

The Rams also will have an abundance of cap space next year, making it much easier to sign players after the 2023 season. Signing big name players right now would, in theory, not be in the interest of Los Angeles unless they think they have a chance to make some noise in the NFC, as it could potentially lower their 2024 cap number and maybe even add more wins to their total, moving them further down in the draft. This also could be a reason why they made no major offseason moves and submitted no waiver claims after cuts.

While I’m not necessarily saying I think it’s a good idea for the Rams to tank, if they think they are truly not in contention this year, it would be completely understandable for them to do whatever they can to insure a higher pick in the draft, outside of losing key talent like Cooper Kupp or Aaron Donald.