The enduring hallmark of our team led by Sean McVay and Les Snead was aggressive action in the pursuit of Super Bowl titles. While this year may feel different given the first two weeks of the offseason, make no mistake, we expect this season to be battling for the NFC West Division title and racing to Super Bowl LVIII in Las Vegas.
We always knew there would come a time when we would have to backtrack on our typical modus operandi in order to continue on our ongoing path to success. In the past, when we traded against younger Pro Bowl players who would get new contracts — Sammy Watkins, Marcus Peters, Brandin Cooks, Jalen Ramsey — we had the long-term salary cap flexibility to accept those new contracts. If we wanted to acquire short-term players like Dante Fowler or Von Miller, we had the extra draft capital to help us push Super Bowl, which happened in both cases.
During last year’s trade deadline, it was clear that in a new era where teams were poised to be as aggressive as we were, we didn’t have the draft capital or salary cap space to win trade talks and take on the top players to the salaries they would charge.
As a result, we faced a choice this off-season. We could restructure the contracts again to give us one last chance with our core squad, but that would mean a complete overhaul would be required over the next few seasons. Or we could focus on replenishing our draft capital and improving our long-term salary cap to pave the way for us to be competitive now and into the future.
Collectively as an organization, we chose the latter path because we believe in the talent in our current roster and the ability of our coaching staff to bring us back to the playoffs. As we sit here today, we have 11 draft picks in this year’s draft, including three in the top 77. We have almost all of our picks in 2024 to build next year and have capital to trade at this year’s close make. From a salary cap perspective, while we had to part ways with players who helped us win a Lombardi trophy at SoFi Stadium, we all took on our salary cap pains in 2023 and plan to do more in 2024 Than $60 million in space. the largest salary cap space we’ve had since moving to Los Angeles.
Let me be clear – our goal for 2023 is to win the NFC West and hit a deep playoff run. Change doesn’t mean we expect to take a step back. Our Super Bowl LVI starting lineup included 19 starters (out of 22) who had not started Super Bowl LIII just three years earlier. Matthew Stafford, Cooper Kupp and Aaron Donald are all heading into this offseason as fresh as they have been in the past few seasons and hungry to get back to their Super Bowl form. We’re excited to see young players like Cam Akers, Cobie Durant, Van Jefferson and Ernest Jones taking on more prominent roles. Sean has assembled a new coaching staff focused on great teachers, communicators and diverse backgrounds to work together and find out how best to win the NFC.
We know what a privilege it is to be the Los Angeles team and with that comes great expectations. It’s not enough just to win a championship, even if you win it at home. Our vision and mandate as owners has always been sustained success and multiple Lombardi trophies. With Sean and Les leading the way, we are confident that this plan will allow us to compete and contend not just for this year but for years to come and we can’t wait to see you at SoFi Stadium this fall to see to begin this journey together.
Thank you for your continued support and Go Rams!