The preseason is going to be much more interesting for the Los Angeles Rams this year.
Sean McVay has previously rested all of his starters during these exhibition games, but in 2023, he’s not taking the same approach. He has a “very different” plan for his players this summer, which includes playing some of his starters.
Obviously, established stars such as Matthew Stafford, Aaron Donald and Cooper Kupp won’t be suiting up, but other projected starters who may not be as experienced will be on the field this August.
“It’s going to be very different than what you guys are accustomed to. We haven’t decided exactly, but we’ve got to get guys ready to go. There’s a lot of players on this team that haven’t had an opportunity to even really suit up, play real tackle football, that we’re going to be counting on against Seattle. So it’s going to be a very different approach now. The Matthews and the Aarons, you’re not going to see them but, we’re still kind of working through that. But it will be very different than what we’ve been accustomed to. And really even in 2017 when we got here, we did play guys in those first couple preseason games and just a series in the third one. So, that really kind of started from ‘18 on and I think this is a lot closer to 2017 where we’re kind of learning a lot about these guys. But the guys that have been big contributors that have played a lot of snaps, we’ll tilt towards being smart with them. But for the most part, there’s going to be a lot of guys that are playing and very few guys that won’t.”
McVay didn’t say exactly who else won’t be playing in the preseason, but we can assume Tyler Higbee and Rob Havenstein will get the three games off in August. Other than that, it’s possible everyone else will play some snaps.
That includes players such as Brian Allen and Joe Noteboom, who are in their sixth seasons but aren’t locked into starting roles. Guys like Cobie Durant and Michael Hoecht, who are projected starters, could get reps as they prepare for the regular season.
With the makeup of the Rams’ roster, they have little choice but to play many of their key contributors. So few starting roles are locked up at the moment that there are plenty of spots up for grabs.
