The Los Angeles Rams should look a lot different in 2020, not only because they will be playing in a new stadium with new uniforms, but also because they made a number of changes to their roster and coaching staff.
Perhaps the biggest move from a roster perspective was the release of star running back Todd Gurley, who has since joined the Atlanta Falcons.
With Gurley no longer on the roster, a lot of the pressure will shift towards quarterback Jared Goff, who is coming off his worst season in the Sean McVay era.
Goff is still just a year and a half removed from taking the Rams to the Super Bowl, and with him entering his fifth season, many believe he is primed for a big year. One of those people is new Rams offensive coordinator Kevin O’Connell, who wants to give Goff more power on offense in 2020, via Stu Jackson of TheRams.com:
“There’s a layer going into his fifth year, his fourth year in the offense, of ownership, where you feel strongly about presenting him with a plan where he could truly have some ownership, while also understanding at the end of the day, it’s just about being great with the details of doing his job,” O’Connell said during a video conference last month.
The Rams haven’t had an offensive coordinator the last couple of years, but McVay decided to bring in O’Connell this offseason to work with Goff and give him an extra set of eyes on the sideline.
Goff is excited about having a new coach on the offensive side of the ball, believing he, McVay and O’Connell will be in constant communication:
“I think that’s the biggest thing that will be great this year, myself, Sean and Kevin being able to have that fluid conversation throughout the year,” Goff said during a June 10 video conference. “What we see, what we like, what we don’t like, and just continue to work on it.”
The Rams didn’t have a consistent run game in 2019 with Gurley struggling a bit, putting extra pressure on Goff to put the offense on his back.
Even though everyone expects Goff to lead the Rams offensively in 2020, they still will need to develop a run game for him to be successful. It will be an open competition for the starting running back job between Cam Akers, Darrell Henderson and Malcolm Brown, with hopefully one or two of them emerging early in the season.
