The Rams’ offense wasn’t the team’s biggest issue last season, though it certainly took a step back from the 2018 campaign. Jared Goff struggled behind a porous offensive line and Todd Gurley looked nothing like the player he was the previous two seasons.
The Rams still finished top 11 in scoring and yards, but the offense wasn’t as consistently explosive as it was in Sean McVay’s first two years.
There are a lot of important pieces on that side of the ball, including some newcomers by way of the draft, but these six players must step up in 2020.
QB Jared Goff
Goff is arguably the most important player on the Rams’ roster heading into 2020. If he struggles like he did last year, Los Angeles will miss the playoffs again. He doesn’t have to go out and throw for 5,000 yards with 35 touchdowns, but he can’t make the same mistakes and show the same inaccuracy that he did in 2019.
He was an MVP candidate in the first half of 2018 and looked like one of the top quarterbacks in the NFL behind an elite offensive line. The Rams probably won’t get that sort of play out of their O-line again in 2020, which means Goff really has to step up and succeed despite being pressured often.
If not, the defense will be working with short fields and the entire offense will have trouble sustaining drives. A lot of the season rides on Goff’s shoulders, as do most teams’ hopes with their quarterback.
RT Rob Havenstein
Havenstein’s 2019 season was nothing short of a disaster. He allowed five sacks, committed eight penalties and had an overall grade of 50.9 at Pro Football Focus. All that was on just 617 snaps across nine games played.
He missed the end of the season with a knee injury, but even after he was a full participant in practice late in the year, the Rams held him out. Was that due to a lack of confidence in him? Or a way to protect him from further injury?
Regardless, Havenstein has to earn the trust back of his coaches and reclaim his spot as the starting right tackle ahead of Bobby Evans. He was a top right tackle in 2018 but nowhere near that last season. The Rams need the old Havenstein back.
WR Cooper Kupp
It might seem more logical to put Josh Reynolds here, since he’ll likely be the one replacing Brandin Cooks. But more pressure will be on Kupp to produce in 2020 with Cooks gone and the Rams steering away from a heavy reliance on 11 personnel.
Kupp all but disappeared in the second-half of the 2019 season, catching just 36 passes for 369 yards and five touchdowns in the last eight games. He had only one game with more than 65 yards, which came in a meaningless Week 17 game against the Cardinals where he had 99 yards.
He didn’t produce nearly as well as he did in the first eight games of the season and his playing time was even cut as the Rams used more two-tight end sets. Kupp has to rebound and play the way he did in the first eight weeks rather than the most recent eight games he started.
OL Austin Blythe
Joseph Noteboom, Austin Corbett, David Edwards and Brian Allen all have to step up next season, too, but Blythe is the likeliest of that group to be a starter. Whether it’s at center or guard, Blythe has to play at a much higher level than he did last year – especially after the Rams gave him a new contract this offseason.
Blythe’s versatility is valuable, but more importantly, he needs to improve his pass blocking and become stronger in the running game. Too often, he was bullied by more powerful defensive linemen, which collapsed the pocket on Goff and closed up running lanes.
If Blythe can’t maintain a starting job next season, it’ll be a bad sign for the state of the Rams’ offensive line because Allen isn’t a better option at center, nor is Noteboom an upgrade at guard.
RBs Cam Akers and Darrell Henderson
Akers and Henderson are grouped here because they’ll probably be the top two running backs in a backfield committee. Neither of them has to be the All-Pro version of Todd Gurley, but it would be great to see them average close to 5 yards per carry and show the ability to contribute as receivers.
McVay and GM Les Snead have made it clear that the Rams will be more of a run-heavy team in 2020 and it starts with these two backs. Akers could be the first- and second-down option with Henderson subbing in on third down and as a change-of-pace back.
No matter how they’re used, the Rams need to be more effective running the ball than they were in 2019 in order to complement Goff and the passing attack.
