Are the Rams ahead of the league again when it comes to their offensive investment?

The Rams are spending a total of $182,391,057 on their offense and only $62,585,789 on their defense in 2024. Only the Browns are going to have more invested into their offense and a big reason for that is Deshaun Watson’s $63 million dollar cap number. The point is that the Rams are basically spending more than anyone on one side of the ball and that’s the side that has a goal of simply putting up points at any cost.

The fascinating part about this is that the Rams have still gone out and added defensive pieces this off-season and even to an extent it’s fair to say at least by quantity they have addressed defense as much. However, with the offense they have spent a bunch of money on signing both Kevin Dotson and Jonah Jackson then they added Colby Parkinson all before that they brought back DeMarcus Robinson. I guess the fair question is why are they so keen on overloading their offense and not balancing out their spending on both sides of the ball?

I think there is a real reason here. I think the Rams are ahead of the curve again. I say again because the Rams were the first team to really make trading players like it’s the NBA popular in the league. Now, I think the Rams with the help of Head Coach Sean McVay being on the competition committee are making adjustments to the rules of the game. This year, the league is going to crack down hard on the “hip drop” tackle. In addition, the league has made it hard enough to play defense as it stands. Surprisingly though scoring was down across the league last year. I think there are a few reasons for this.

Regardless whether I am right or wrong, I think this is a deliberate way the Rams are choosing to build their team. They want to put a heavy emphasis on the offense. It could have a lot to do with Matthew Stafford, it could have a lot to do with their weapons but I think it has far more to do with the idea they have figured out that if you are a top offense in football, you can still win at a high level even if your defense isn’t amazing. It’s actually been proven and Michael Salfino had a great article on The Athletic that broke down recent playoff teams and how they fared.

Offense translates better late in the season than defense does. This is a league where if you have the offense you can overcome a bad defense. We watched a horrendous passing defense in the Detroit Lions go to the NFC Title game because of their offense. This is a big reason why I think the Rams chose offense over defense and this was the pivot plan post-Aaron Donald.

Now, did the Rams initially plan to sign Jonah Jackson and Kevin Dotson? The answer is no. It was reported by Jourdan Rodrigue that the team viewed Jackson as a backup option in case they were unable to bring back Dotson. They ended up loving both so much they signed both. This investment not only protects Stafford in the pocket but helps the run game. The Rams despite having multiple games last year where nothing went right offensively, finished among the top eight teams in total offense in 2023.

The fact is this. The Rams now with an offense that features Stafford, Kyren Williams, Cooper Kupp, Puka Nacua, DeMarcus Robinson, Colby Parkinson and a loaded offensive line seems to clearly be an upgrade over last year. Last year’s offense was eighth, what will this offense do? Sure, the defense could very well take a step back but as we’ve seen an elite offense can do enough to make up for a not so good defense.

I finish this off by saying this. I do believe the Rams are ahead of the curve. Many teams like to stay balanced which is sound advice. Balanced is the least risky, more consistent approach but balanced also leaves you in the middle of the pack. That helps over the course of the season but when you get into the post-season you need big time players like a Puka Nacua, Kyren Williams and Matthew Stafford to step up in the clutch. Defense is becoming frequently penalized and harder to play. It almost just makes more sense to spend more on the side of the ball that is less likely to get hit with a penalty. They are more favored in the modern day NFL game and we all know scoring makes everyone happy and covers up the blemishes.

The Rams could very well invest a first round pick on an offensive player and judging by their approach right now it wouldn’t necessarily be a mad move. The Rams feel like they are 1-2 pieces away from having not only an elite offense but the best offense on paper heading into the NFL season. It’s hard to say an offense is the best in the league before they’ve played together but on paper if the Rams were to say add a Rome Odunze level receiving threat or Olu Fashanu level left tackle that would go a long way towards the idea they truly have the best offense on paper in football.

With the Rams sneaky ability to find bargains after the second and third wave of free agency not to mention their ability to find draft gems on day three, it’s become relatively easy and almost risk-free for the Rams to go with such a heavy roster building approach when it comes to their offensive investment. A big reason why they are ahead of the curve is because most teams haven’t done the pre-requisites to even consider this at this point in time.