Fantasy Football Daily - 2022 Franchise Focus: Los Angeles Rams

Episode Date: July 9, 2022

Joe Dolan (@FG_Dolan) invites The Athletic's Jourdan Rodrigue (@JourdanRodrigue) to discuss the upcoming season for the Los Angeles Rams. The Franchise Focus Podcast series is brought to you by Underdog Fantasy (@UnderdogFantasy). New users can sign up to Underdog using promo code FANTASYPTS for up to $100 in bonus cash on their first deposit. Visit fantasypoints.com/underdog for more info. The podcast series is also sponsored by Evan's Sports Cards & Collectibles (@evanscards). Follow @EvansCards on Twitter for weekly updates and card releases, Like on Facebook, and head to evanssportsnj.com for more info, including the always-updated eBay store. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/fantasy-points-podcast/support Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Welcome back to the franchise focus series of podcasts here at FantasyPoint.com. My name is Joe Dolan. Today we're talking Super Bowl champion Los Angeles Rams. And like I've been trying to do for all of these podcasts. I'm going to the best. I'm going to the best potential option to break down the L.A. Rams, the best potential option to break down all the teams. And, well, I'm glad to tell you we have the best. We have Jordan Rodriguez, who covers the L.A. Rams, has covered the L.A. Rams for a number of years for the athletic on the West Coast, enjoying life, probably a little bit cooler than it is here in South Carolina. Jordan, thank you so much. Welcome to the podcast. I'm glad that we had a couple of technical issues. It happens when

you're doing 32 of these, but it's great to have you on. Yeah, so glad that we could do this. And I'm shaking the cobwebs out of my brain a little bit after finally getting a break after something like 430 consecutive days of work as this chaotic team won the Super Bowl. It was such a blast. It was so much fun. But glad to be picking things back up ahead of training camp and glad to be with you today. Yeah, and unfortunately, when the team wins the Super Bowl and you're working through the

Super Bowl, they don't push the season back. That's a little bit of a, so Super Bowl, Hangover happens for us, too. I understand that in this regard. It probably just feels like yesterday, frankly, for you. Yeah, honestly, I haven't processed it yet. I even, you know, got to hold the trophy at the after party and all of that. And it was so incredible, such an incredible ride. And as a writer, you hope for your entire career that you can meet a moment like that. And now I'm kind of like, oh, existential crisis incoming. What do I do now? So it's going to be a fun, fun 2020 as they try to repeat, that's for sure.

You can follow her work on Twitter at Jordan Rodriguez. That's J-O-U-R-D-A-N, Roderick. Make sure you put the U in there. And as always, keep in mind that the Fantasy Points franchise-focused podcasts are brought to you by Evans Cards. And Evans Cards is really just one of those small businesses, not a super store, that you can really feel good about supporting. and you've seen our memorabilia giveaways,

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That's EvansportsNJ.com online, and at Evans cards on Twitter and tell them that the guys from fantasy points.com sent you. Jordan, this is obviously a fantasy-focused podcast here. And when it comes to fantasy, running backs often are king, even though Cooper Cup was the best player for fantasy. I don't think we have too many questions about him. Cam Acres.

I mean, not productive during the playoffs. He struggled with efficiency. But he's also did something we've never seen before. coming back from a torn Achilles after six months is essentially unheard of. This is an injury that has ruined careers before. He was able to get back on the field, which is a miracle in and of itself. But you understand it's a really tough situation to suss out for fantasy because he wasn't very productive despite the fact that he came back earlier.

What kind of insight can you give us on where Cam Makers is and where the Rams believe Cam Makers is? Yeah, it's a great question. I don't know that a lot of people track or maybe are aware that the Rams, they measure all of the outputs for their players on a very granular, sort of molecular level. So when you see them rotating backs through the end of that postseason run, especially as Cam is doing something remarkably incredible. And like you said, unheard of one of the first players to come back, I think the first player to come back from an injury like that that quickly. So they're measuring as output and they're basically saying, okay, you can have this many carries because we know that that's safe for you versus, all right, you know, cut the cord and go out there and try to do what you can. And so that I think is a part of, you know, you talk about these running backs getting into like a flow state. And I think that was kind of part of what you saw. It wasn't necessarily that there was a physical problem with him. They actually found that the repaired Achilles was producing more energy and more power than it was before. the injury after recovery, which is, again, holy crap.

And so I think it was more rust and I think it was more, you can't, you couldn't really get into a rhythm. And the way that teams were playing them, some of their structures, you know, they were kind of daring them to pass, understanding that Matthew Stafford had maybe been turning, turning the ball over a little bit more through the middle half end of the season. So I think with Cam, it's going to be really interesting. This has got to be his year, right? I mean, this is really, we know since Todd Gurley, the Rams really aren't going to pay a running

back long term. So he's got to really show this year that he can be the guy that they drafted him to be. They love this guy. And I think that what you're going to see with him not only is sort of a reemergence or maybe even just an emergence in general, because it's kind of been start, stop with him a little bit. And so I think, too, you're also going to see him work to the passing game a lot more. You saw a little sprinklings of it, not just with him, but also with Daryl Henderson. With a healthy camp makers, they want him to do everything.

They want him to be on the field the entire time they want to use him. in in pass pro they also want to use them obviously as that that lead running back but also you know they're going to use their running backs in the passing game a lot more you saw them increase it this year i actually talked with or excuse me that you saw them increase it last year and i actually talked with cam acres right before they broke for the summer i was interviewing him about thomas brown who moved from running backs coach to tight ends coach and he's going to help coordinate the passing game great coach um in line to be a head coach at some point soon and cam you know as a part this interview talking about this guy he's very close with, you know, obviously as a journalist,

you get a health update there in there, right? You know, you wouldn't be doing your job if he didn't do the health update as well. And he just got this look on his face like, this dude is fired up. He is telling me he's 100% ready to go. He feels great. He understands. He's pissed at himself for how the Super Bowl went. Again, through remarkable circumstances, I think any normal person would be like, you know what? I'll give myself a mulligan there. But he is furious with himself for how that went because he felt like he should have played better. And I think you're going to see a really fired up, really electric camakers out of the gate as soon as the training camp breaks and they start playing real football games. Well, that's a juicy update. I'm really hoping to see that in the

preseason and in training camp, although do you think they might limit him in the preseason, obviously, just to be a little bit extra careful? Yeah, Sean McVeigh does not play starters or even like key rotational players in the preseason. So you probably will see still that pitch count happening, even through the fall, even through the summer. I mean, they're going to do that with a lot of their veteran players. They have a much better understanding of what it's like, not just for the extra game of the season, but also what it means when they extend their season to the length that they did

with that Super Bowl run. And they're very much in focus of doing that again. So I think that you're going to see a lot of their players limited in certain ways. And so the things that you hear out of camp might not necessarily be what's real by the time, you know, September, mid-September comes around. so you probably will see him pretty limited, but at the same time, it does not indicate that he's not ready or not fully healthy.

How's Matthew Stafford doing physically? Obviously, you know, he plays through injuries all the time, but, you know, he got banged up last year. And obviously his status is a huge harminger for how the Rams will do as they try to repeat his champions. Yeah, another great question. So he was dealing with various ailments, as I think as I think is kind of,

he's wants to do at this point through the season like you said in the spring it was let's see all time has no meaning and all the days are running together but i i put a late march that he had in mid-march a shot in his elbow anti-inflammatory shot had to be in a brace for a little bit and he didn't throw through the ota session now again i think that if the season started on june first he could have very well been playing very well been throwing but a lot of this that the rams are doing behind Reggie Scott, their vice president sports medicine performance, their sports science, they are doing a lot of different things with limiting workload and managing workload, particularly as some of their core players get into more of their veteran years of this game.

And the season extends and they believe their season will extend even further. So they're being very, very careful with everybody right now. Matthew Stafford told me that he is planning on ramping up his throwing programming before training camp. So you'll probably see on social media him get together with a couple of the receivers, anybody who's in Southern California, for that matter, and gets him throwing in before training camp actually starts. But there is no expectation that he's dealing with with any sort of problem as training camp opens. And really with him, it's going to be about very specific management. I think through the rest of his career, the Rams do have a very particular way that they manage their health

of their players. And that's going to be something that definitely pertains to Matthew moving forward. a guy who was bagged up last year for the Bears and also might have just been in uh to to use the technical term here Jordan DGAF mode with the Bears last year was Alan Robinson the Rams obviously gave him a pretty sizable contract this offseason they need to replace Robert Woods we'll talk about Odell Beckham after this but how did the Rams view Alan Robinson how did they think he fit into this system um and I mean obviously Robinson is going to be playing with Matthew Stafford, who's now the best quarterback he's ever had. I think you're going to see Alan Robinson do things that you've never seen him do before.

And I say that in a very positive way. I think when I watched some of the installation work that they were doing with him in the spring OTAs, first of all, dude is completely healthy, did not miss a single day of voluntary, so didn't have to be there, didn't miss a single day of voluntary workouts through the spring, was used in a variety of ways lining up in a variety of different ways, really seemingly rotating with Cooper Cup. Obviously, Alan also has that go up and grab it, contested catch skill set,

red zone threat skill set as well. But you also saw him being worked out of the slot. You saw him being used in a variety of different ways, much like you see Cooper Cup being used, along with his contested catch and his straight line ability. So I think that's really, really, really intriguing, not just for the Rams, but I think for fantasy football players,

because you know that Sean McVeigh, I mean, you heard him say it. Super Bowl. He said, I'm not running the ball one more time. You know, and you heard them say, you know, you quite literally saw their pivotal shift into get the ball in the air and put it into our best player's hands. And that, I think, is going to continue. And you're going to see a huge target share for both Cooper Cup and for Alan Robinson. And I think you're going to see really exciting things as those guys interchange along a full route tree. I actually said this in one of my articles in the spring. I'm not one for making huge sweeping takes. I certainly don't.

don't have any hot takes through the spring, but I actually was, was prompted watching Alan Robinson out there to say, if the NFL season started tomorrow, this is back in May. If the NFL season started tomorrow, aka in May, he could be ready to go with a full tree right away. It was really impressive stuff. That is music to my ears because I've been drafting Alan Robinson in the fourth round. He's actually kind of a polarizing guy on our staff.

I think you might change some minds. Notably, Graham Barfield, by the way, who you already have a relationship with through a podcast you did with him a couple of years ago. He is out on Alan Robinson. I'm going to be telling him right after recording this what you said about AROP. Now, another guy I've been drafting quite a bit because he's available in the last round or two of drafts is Odell Beckham. And look, I know he tore his ACL in the Super Bowl, not somebody who's going to be ready week one. He's still a free agent.

What are you hearing on the Rams' interest in bringing him back? Odell's interest in coming back to the Rams. Is there still some traction there? Yeah, you know, I think, and this is my personal opinion, I think it gets done. And I think that there's no timeline on it, which I think is what causes maybe some fans or people to question it or panic a little bit. There's really not a timeline because he's still rehabbing a serious injury and obviously evaluating his own options as well. My understanding of the deal that's been offered to him way back earlier in the spring was it's going to be heavily incentivized in the first year. but then there's some, my knowledge of what the Rams believe they want to do is offer some

financial creativity, some flexibility on the back end of the deal. So if it's a multi-year deal, the second or third year of that deal. And that's where the financial flexibility comes contingent upon obviously how he comes back from the injury. So on the team side, that seems reasonable. On Odell's side, you obviously, as a player, want to get the best deal for you and for his growing family. And you obviously want to see what's out there, what the best option for you is.

He also, you know, he was so crucial to them winning that Super Bowl was probably on pace. And even Cooper Cup agrees with this was on pace to be the MVP of that Super Bowl if he hadn't had gotten hurt and really just has so many fans in that building. I have not, you know, you know me, I sort of lurk around in the background and listen to all the tidbits and all the gossip from people in the building and have not heard one negative thing about this guy. They love him there. And I know that he really found peace, being.

there. He found that extra part of himself that he really needed and wanted to find and kind of was due for at this point in his career and then reached the mountaintop with a group of guys who genuinely loved him. And I think that at the end of the day, that becomes sort of the foundation point. The money is going to be what it is. But for me, you know, he just fits. He fits in this offense. He fits in this ecosystem. He fits in this culture. And I think that they really would love to have him back. They've been very public about that. It's just going to be about getting the technical details of the contract right. And it's also going to be about him, you know, hitting these milestones in his rehab and making sure that he's coming back, you know, as healthy as

he can. Just so everybody knows the listeners understand, we are actually recording this on July 6. And the release of this podcast when you're listening to it is July 9th. The reason I throw that out there is because Jordan, I had Greg Alman on the podcast to talk buccaneers. And in between recording the pod and it being published, Rob Gruncowski retired. So like the NFL never stops. Fortunately, fortunately, I have not done my Carolina Panthers podcast yet because as we're talking like an hour ago, Baker Mayfield got traded to Carolina. So fortunately that didn't happen here. But Jordan, I've been wrapping up all these podcasts with one final question to all the guests and the analysts that we've had. And it's maybe a player we haven't mentioned thus far,

somebody a little bit under the radar who might be able to produce numbers in this offense that maybe folks aren't expecting. Yeah, so very under the radar, actually, and I love when I get questions like this because I think more people should know about this guy, Kendall Blanton, former undrafted free agent, tight end, who if he hadn't have gotten hurt, so he was taking, he took over Tyler Higby's rep share when Tyler Higby got hurt late in the season. And you just saw the growth from Kendall the entire year. I watched, you know, tight end drills and he's working on a scout team, and then he moves up, you know, into maybe the, from the practice squad, to maybe a depth role.

And then he's really pushing, really working hard at his craft. Tyler Higby, obviously, about as reliable as they come. So certainly not saying that he would take over for Tyler Higby. Tyler is in a contract year and he's coming back from an injury as well. And it's pretty serious knee injury. And so, you know, Tyler also participated through the full spring and is cleared and good to go. At the same time, this offense, you know, especially without Robert Woods, they're going to probably be leaning on a guy with a versatile skill set, maybe at a tight end,

who also is maybe leans a little bit more toward a receiving role as Kendall Blanton does. And he really showed up big for them against Tampa Bay in the postseason. And he would have played a really big role for them in the Super Bowl as well had he not had to leave the game with a shoulder injury early on. You know, I think there is going to be a really bright future ahead of this guy. And he's a really unique, really interesting guy. definitely guys go check out some of those interviews if you haven't already and i'm hoping to feature him a little bit later in your training camp just a really really unique really interesting guy i love when i dropped that question and it's somebody that i wasn't even thinking of and so jordan

that's a that's a real deep sleeper as a matter of fact i might have to tell john hanson over at fantasy points to go project the guy right now like actually give him some numbers because i was not expecting kendlblanton to come off that that's why you're the best though like like that so that one, I'm going to make sure that one gets plastered on social when this podcast comes out. Kendall Blanton. Hey, look, I'm a whiskey drinker. I like Blantons. Hey, there you go. Nice one. Nice poll. No pun intended. Absolutely. I'm a Phillies fan, too. And Joe Blanton, the last pitcher to ever hit a home run in the World Series. So I got to, hey, got to give it up to the name. That is a deep cut, Jordan. I am thrilled

that you brought that one up. You can follow her on Twitter at Jordan Rodriguez. That's J-O-U-R-D-A. and make sure you throw that you in. That's the British spelling, right? French, yeah, French, as far as I know. Yeah. I don't say they always have the extra U's in the British. The flourish, you know, the flourish. Or the Canadian spelling too, I think.

Yes, yeah, it is French Canadian, yeah. No, fantastic. All right. At Jordan Rodriguez on Twitter. Follow her work at the athletic. She is the best. My name is Joe Dolan at FG underscore Dolan on Twitter. Still have the last residuals of COVID voice.

I am trying to get over that. But the show must go on. The franchise focus series must go on. I'll be back next week with more. We'll start talking Chargers, Raiders, Chiefs next week. Already thrilled for the guests. I have lined up for those. Catch you later, everybody, and enjoy the rest of your week.

Thanks for tuning in to this edition of the Fantasy Points podcast. Remember to subscribe, rate, and review on your favorite platform. And come join the roster at FantasyPoint.com.