The Rams will finally begin their quest to return to the Super Bowl on Sunday in Charlotte where they’ll take on the Panthers. Everyone has been speculating how their latest quest for the Lombardi will turn out. We still have a few days left of speculation before the quest begins. Let’s make a few bold predictions on how the 2019 Los Angeles Rams season will play out.
Keep in mind that these are bold predictions. While every one of these has plenty of truth behind it, don’t go betting your house that these will happen. For the purpose of good theater, we’ll be going from least to most bold on this list.
Taylor Rapp will out-snap all Rams linebackers besides Cory Littleton
I’ve laid out in the past what I expect Rapp’s role to be in 2019. Assuming he can take over the third spot in the safety rotation from Marqui Christian, it should be a big one.
Even before Micah Kiser went down with an injury, I expected Rapp to split snaps with him. Kiser would handle the early-down work as a second linebacker while Rapp handled the passing downs as a third safety. With Kiser out of the picture, he’s competing with Bryce Hager for those snaps. Hager will likely be even more inept in pass coverage than Kiser. Rapp is going to have a size-able role as a rookie this year. He’ll out-snap Hager, Troy Reeder and all the other linebackers on the team outside of Cory Littleton.
Todd Gurley will play in every meaningful game
Gurley’s knee has received endless speculation ever since he missed the final two games of the 2018 season. Gurley was notably absent during major portions of the NFC Championship and Super Bowl. In the offseason, it was confirmed by his trainer that there is an arthritic component to his surgically-repaired knee.
The Rams have known this. There’s a chance they’ve known it since he re-injured the knee late in the 2018 season. Both Gurley and the Rams have been preparing to deal with this issue for months. They will have a plan in place on how to handle Gurley’s workload in games and in practice. They’ll be ready to have Gurley at 100% for the playoff run.
Does this mean it’s impossible that Gurley won’t be rested for a game or two? Of course not, but I don’t think it’s likely. Even though the Rams drafted a running back in the third round this year, they didn’t invest much in the position and have just three backs on their roster. They didn’t even bring back C.J. Anderson, who outplayed Gurley in the NFC championship game and proved he could be a workhorse in the Rams system. He signed with the Lions on a measly one-year, $1.5 million deal. The Rams could have had him back if they wanted to. They chose to trust Gurley instead.
Gurley will likely see a slight decrease in his snap share from last season, but he’ll play in every game and this won’t become a committee backfield with Malcolm Brown and Darrell Henderson. In fact…
Darrell Henderson will have little-to-no impact on the 2019 Rams
Recently, Sean McVay stated that all three running backs will have a role this year. He also said that the Rams might play all three at the same exact time, so I’m taking this with a grain of salt.
Henderson is likely to see the field sparingly as long as Gurley remains healthy. Many outside the Rams community have assumed that Henderson is going to be the main backup behind Gurley. Most Rams fans know that Malcolm Brown will occupy that role.
Expect Henderson to be used more in a gadget-type role, similar to how the Rams used to (attempt) to use Tavon Austin. When he’s on the field, they’ll probably be drawing up a play for him. Hopefully he can be put in a position to succeed unlike Austin was.
Still, this is a very crowded offense, and those opportunities will be limited. Henderson won’t be in the top seven as far as Rams touches go.
Gerald Everett will play 80% of offensive snaps
Last season, Everett only saw the field on about 35% of the team’s offensive snaps. Tyler Higbee was on the field for 71% of the snaps.
Everett is a sleeping giant in this offense. In 2019, he’ll be awakened. He’s become one of Jared Goff’s favorite targets when he’s on the field. Last season, he was targeted on 13% of his snaps, the highest number on the team. The Rams are just waiting for Everett to put it all together before they unleash him as their full-time tight end. This season, he’ll do just that.
Higbee will trot onto the field on opening day as the team’s starting tight end. Everett will quickly prove that he’s too good to not be on the field more than Higbee. By the end of the year, he’ll be dominating the snap count at tight end. McVay will finally have the new Jordan Reed he was looking for when the team drafted Everett in 2017.
The Rams finish with a better record than last year
Super Bowl hangover be damned. The Rams will finish with a better record than last season.
Many will knock this prediction by looking at the negatives. The team lost five starters in free agency (including Mark Barron) and only replaced one of them with an outside player (Eric Weddle). Gurley’s knee is a question mark. Teams that lose in the Super Bowl struggle to rekindle the magic in the following season.
How about we look at the positives? The Rams have improved every year with Sean McVay coaching. Jared Goff has improved every year he’s been in the NFL. Aaron Donald just attended his first training camp since 2016. Even the team lost a few starters, the continuity of this squad remains, as every starter on the team besides Eric Weddle and Clay Matthews was here last season. Oh, and did I mention the Rams signed Eric Weddle and Clay Matthews?
The Rams will finish 14-2 for the second time in franchise history. What happens after that remains to be seen. Don’t forget that Dick Vermeil won a Super Bowl in his third season as Rams head coach, and McVay is entering his third right now. Coincidence? I’ll let you be the judge.
Aaron Donald will set the single-season sack record and win MVP
Last year, Aaron Donald had 20.5 sacks as an interior defensive lineman. It was an unheard-of season. And yet he didn’t sniff the NFL MVP award.
What more does Donald have to do? He followed up his 2017 Defensive Player of the Year award by increasing his sack total from 11 to 20.5. He’ll have to take it one step further to finally win the MVP award. The sack record is the only way.
It’s not unreasonable to think that Donald could topple Michael Strahan’s record of 22.5 sacks in a single season. He was only 2.5 away from breaking it last year. This season, Donald finally has the benefit of being with the Rams during the offseason and training camp. He failed to report the previous to offseasons due to a contract dispute and still was named a first-team All-Pro each year.
With a full camp under his belt, Donald will record 24.5 sacks and surpass Strahan’s record. The NFL will have no choice but to award Donald with the MVP, the first for a defensive player since Lawrence Taylor in 1986. If 24.5 sacks and a third straight season of being the most dominant player in the NFL can’t win you an MVP award, it’s proof that the NFL will never give a non-quarterback the award again.
