November 5, 2024

THOUSAND OAKS, CALIFORNIA - JUNE 13: Head coach Sean McVay of the Los Angeles Rams speaks during a press conference at mini-camp at California Lutheran University on June 13, 2023 in Thousand Oaks, California. (Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images)

Breaking: Los Angeles Rams Strike Quickly To Sign $25 Million WR…..

The Los Angeles Rams’ decision to trade former No. 1 overall pick Jared Goff to the Detroit Lions for Matthew Stafford might go down as one of the best moves in franchise history. Not only for the Rams, but also for the Lions. It’s the rare trade that worked out well for both sides.

With Stafford, the Rams won the Super Bowl that Goff failed to deliver. Yet, with Goff, the Lions got back to their first NFC Championship appearance since Barry Sanders was juking defenders out of his cleats in 1991.

The Rams clearly don’t have any regrets about trading Goff; they have a shiny Super Bowl LVI ring to show for it, and Stafford is still one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL. Meanwhile, Goff doesn’t have any regrets about the Rams essentially giving up on him in favor of Stafford. In fact, Goff says the move worked out better than he could have ever imagined.

“In hindsight, [being traded to the Lions] was the greatest thing that ever happened to me, for my career and my development as a human. Being shipped off and being sent to a place to die, essentially, is what a lot of people think it was and I was never going to allow that to happen. I’m fortunate enough to be around a lot of good coaches and players in Detroit that support me and help me reach my potential.”

Well, I don’t think Les Snead intended to send Goff “to a place to die.” He was just looking out for the best interest of the Rams, as all other NFL GMs do with their respective teams.

But credit to Goff for not being discouraged by being forced to join a tough situation with the Lions, who had been coming off a 5-11 season when he arrived. Now Goff has rebuilt his reputation, where he’s also viewed as one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL, showing plenty capable of leading a high-powered offense.

Ultimately, both teams got what they wanted out of the Goff-Stafford trade, and now the former is one of the most-loved players in Detroit. Yet, we have a feeling the Rams would still make this move 100 times out of 100 if given the chance.

 

As offensive coordinator and then head coach of the St. Louis Rams, Mike Martz worked with one of the all-time best tackles in NFL history, Orlando Pace. No NFL draft analyst believes there is an offensive line prospect near the acclaim of Pace—which we could see almost any year—but Notre Dame’s Joe Alt is the consensus number one at the tackle position.

Well, almost consensus.

In a recent video for his job at The 33rd Team, Martz compared three of the top draft tackles in Joe Alt, Olu Fashanu, and J.C. Latham. As Blaine Grisak recently orchestrated in the SB Nation Mock Draft, he had the Rams trading up for Joe Alt in the top-10, which could be a monumental move for L.A.’s offensive line. Martz sees the polish and skill that Alt has learned at Notre Dame, but that he lacks the big ‘ass’ and hips for a true top-tier left tackle in the NFL.

Instead, Martz sees that potential in Olu Fashanu to be a top-tier tackle but that neither of them compare to Alabama’s J.C. Latham.

Should the Rams target J.C. Latham at pick 19 if he makes it there? The opinions on Latham have been mixed but Martz thinks that good coaching can clean up his technical issues but that his unique frame and athleticism gives him a higher ceiling at tackle than Alt or Fashanu. The Rams could slot Latham at left tackle as soon as 2024, although I’m sure not without growing pains. Alt may be more ready for Week 1, but could he be surpassed by Latham in two or three years?

 

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