The cauldron of competition that is the NFC West produced the Super Bowl winner last season, and, at least from an internal perspective, the Rams’ biggest obstacle to repeating may be their age, given that their best players on both sides of the ball (quarterback Matthew Stafford, 34, and defensive lineman Aaron Donald, 32) are on the wrong side of 30.
But Los Angeles, as it has shown, is resilient as well as talented. Last year the Rams withstood a devastating midseason injury to receiver Robert Woods and the mid–Super Bowl loss of his replacement, Odell Beckham Jr. They had to wrangle safety Eric Weddle out of retirement for the playoffs. But led by coach Sean McVay, they made it work.
This offseason, L.A. brought in some fresh, if not necessarily young, reinforcements. It poached Bobby Wagner, 32, a six-time All-Pro at linebacker, from the Seahawks, and signed former Bears wide receiver Allen Robinson, a 29-year-old contested-catch specialist who could thrive with Stafford, as Kenny Golladay did in Detroit. With Cooper Kupp frequently drawing double coverage, Robinson could feast now that he’s a complementary receiver for the first time in his career.
