For the St. Louis Rams, perhaps the youngest teams in the NFL, training camp is especially significant. It is a crucial time for rookies to learn their way at the professional level. The few veterans on the squad, in turn, must guide and establish rapport with their neophyte counterparts. The team as a whole must gel together.
But don’t get us wrong: the Rams will materialize as a very formidable unit on the gridiron in 2013. St. Louis is stacked with dynamic young talent on the offensive side of the ball. The defensive front seven will present problems for opposing quarterbacks and rushing attacks. And the starting cornerbacks possess as much play-making talent at the position as there is in the NFL.
Yet questions still remain, and they must be answered. Let’s now preview the five most notable positional battles and developments within the 2013 Rams' training camp.
5. Offensive Line
As presently constituted, the Rams' new offensive line in an upgrade over last year’s unit. Left tackle Jake Long was a marquee addition over the offseason and allowed Rodger Saffold to replace Barry Richardson on the right side. Center Scott Wells will try to piggyback of his late-season return in 2012 while Harvey Dahl brings stability at right guard.
The key dynamics among this contingent are whether Long can return to premier form after a down year last season and whether the 32-year-old Wells can fully recover from offseason knee surgery. These men operating in the trenches must utilize training camp as a time to solidify themselves as a cohesive group. Quarterback Sam Bradford will need ample time to target his outside weapons. The lack of an established running game really compounds this matter.
With the pads being put on for the first time this offseason, keep an eye on the men up front come late July.
4. Wide Receiver
They may be young, but they sure are good.
The “long-tenured”, 25-year-old Austin Pettis is the qualified veteran among this talented group of first- and second-year wideouts. Sophomores Chris Givens and Brian Quick return in front of prolific NCAA receivers Tavon Austin and Stedman Bailey, who were teammates at West Virginia.
Pettis and Quick bring great size at 6’3’’, 210-plus pounds and will serve as outside weapons. Givens is both the speed and deep threat out of the slot.
Most intriguing, though, is Austin. He brings rare 4.22 speed and can be utilized anywhere on the offensive side of the ball—slot, out wide, out of the backfield and any place on the field where Bradford can get him the ball in space.
Teammate Bailey, for his part, merely racked up 1,622 receiving yards and 25 touchdowns during his final year at West Virginia. Keep an eye on him as well if he cracks this densely populated lineup.
Rookies Austin and Bailey must prove that they are more than products of a wide open collegiate offense. We don’t expect it will be a problem, but they, along with the ever-raw Quick, must harness their incredible talents and develop timing with Bradford.
This must happen during training camp to the greatest extent thus far over the offseason.
3. Linebackers
The Rams executed a version of musical chairs in their linebacker corps.
Jo-Lonn Dunbar moves from weak-side to strong-side linebacker while first-round pick Alec Ogletree replaces him on the left side. Rocky McIntosh was jettisoned over the offseason. Only middle linebacker James Laurinaitis retains his position.
Dunbar was a highly effective WOLB against both the run and in rushing the quarterback. His work is coverage was some of the worst in football, though, as he allowed five touchdowns and an 84.1 completion percentage on balls thrown in his direction. This will only be exacerbated as he moves to SOLB.
Laurinaitis was a tackling machine in 2012, but his run defense was quite suspect. He and Dunbar must start shoring up their respective deficiencies in camp.
Rookie Ogletree, meanwhile, will command the most attention. The former Bulldog found his way into the backfield with regularity during his final two years at Georgia. He compiled six sacks and 19 tackles for loss by using his fantastic speed.
The primary question will revolve around his NFL readiness as a three-down backer. He has all the talent in the world, but tends to overrun plays and gets pushed around too often by offensive linemen. His first reps against a pro-level offense will be a compelling development in camp.
2. Lose a Running Back, Add a Tight End
St. Louis lost a huge offensive cog over the offseason. But did management do enough to make up for it?
Eight-year 1,000-yard running back Steven Jackson left for greener pastures with the Atlanta Falcons. The bruising 6’3’’, 229-pound workhorse averaged 283 carries per season over that span and piled up more than 10,000 yards and 56 touchdowns during his nine-year tenure with the team.
More importantly, he’s operated as Bradford’s security blanket in the backfield since 2010. He’s been a reliable pass-catcher and has helped diffuse the opposition’s pass-rush. Second-year back Daryl Richardson and Isaiah Pead and rookie Zac Stacy must now account for all that Jackson accomplished so well during his tenure.
Can the former two serve as more than 5’10’’, 197-pound change-of-pace backs? Can they provide more than 108 carries and 27 receptions? First-year man Stacy might actually be the most capable of the three and must prove as much beginning in camp.
The X-factor that must help stabilize life after Jackson is tight end Jared Cook. The Rams coaching staff plan on making the big-time free-agent addition one of the focal points of this offense. It is up to him to continue gelling with Bradford over camp and ensuring that the offense is so prolific that it will move on smoothly without Jackson.
Cook, Stacy, Richardson, Pead—remember these names as late July approaches.
1. Safety
Safeties, safeties and more safeties—say hello to a mighty positional overhaul.
The St. Louis front office let both Quintin Mikell, one of the league’s better safeties in 2012, and Craig Dahl walk after the end of last season. Dahl was a versatile two-way safety and now sports a San Francisco 49ers uniform. Mikell remains a free agent but is being courted by multiple teams.
Those two were also the Rams fourth and fifth-leading tacklers, respectively.
Now, SS Darian Stewart and rookie FS T.J. McDonald head the depth chart in the back end of the defensive secondary. Undrafted rookie from 2011 Rodney McCloud comes in next, while the remaining four safeties include nine-year vet Matt Giordano, sophomore Matt Daniels and undrafted free agents Cody Davis and Cannon Smith.
Among the seven battling for significant roles, only Giordano and Stewart have any notable experience. And league-wide analysts really don’t consider any of them starters or more than special-teamers thus far in their careers.
So, the most significant battle heading into training camp for the Rams is undoubtedly at safety.
Who can fulfill the duties required at strong safety? At free safety? Who will start and who will occupy backup roles? Can this contingent match the prowess of the linebackers and defensive linemen in front of them?
It remains to be seen whether the back end of the Rams defense will exist as a liability moving forward. Training camp will serve as the initial platform for resolving this issue.
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