THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. – Rams general manager Les Snead held a video conference with local media Thursday morning, covering head coach Sean McVay deciding to come back, how many draft picks the team expects to have this year, his macro view of the roster entering the offseason and more.
More on those topics below. You can watch the full press below as well.
"Jacked" to have McVay back
McVay informed the team last Friday (Jan. 13) that he is excited to return this upcoming season, and Snead is "definitely jacked" that McVay will continue to coach the Rams.
"I've often said to Sean, when he got the job at age 30, the guy's been basically running a 800-meter sprint every week since he got our job, adding the head coaching title, and probably had been running an 800-meter sprint as an offensive coordinator for the two previous seasons in Washington," Snead said. "At some point, a hamstring's gonna get tight, a hamstring's going to get pulled, and you're not going to be able to do it, and (there's) just ways to probably delegate more, but somehow take his weekly rhythm and make it more sustainable."
Along those lines, Snead said that being a little bit wiser because of their age, it's part of his and Chief Operating Officer Kevin Demoff's responsibility to "help (McVay) navigate those waters."
"Remodeling" the roster
Snead said that with the way Los Angeles' roster is constructed, "it would be tough to say a rebuild."
"We would almost have to somewhat tear it down to rebuild," Snead said. "Because we do have a lot of really good players in their prime on this roster."
Throughout his near 40-minute press conference, Snead frequently used the word "remodel" instead based on that roster makeup.
Snead said "yes" when asked if the 2022 Rams weren't as deep as versions of the team from the previous three or four years, but also noted that this year was slightly different than years past.
In previous seasons like 2021, Snead explained, they've been competent as a collective unit, but were able to slide in a Johnny Mundt when they lost Tyler Higbee down the stretch, a Kendall Blanton in for Mundt when Mundt got hurt, and a Brycen Hopkins when Blanton got hurt in the playoffs. In other words, that depth was established because of how often those reserves were used and the situations they were put in.
When you have a team healthier than the one that experienced so much attrition due to injury last year, especially to core veteran players, it has allowed them to slide those depth players into roles alongside, in Snead's words, "nine or ten other starters, per se," or players who were starters at the beginning of the season.
If there's one thing that will help Snead as he tweaks the roster for 2023, it's having young players who saw lots of meaningful snaps late in the season.
"That would be probably be one of the roses of the many thorns of this year, is that players on their rookie contracts or whatever the case, garners experience, and within that experience, you have the chance to evaluate and determine, 'Okay, is there a role for that particular player moving forward?'" Snead said.
Previewing expected draft capital
As the Rams tweak their roster this spring, they're expecting to do so with a healthy amount of picks at their disposal.
Snead said that factoring in compensatory picks, the expect to have 10 selections total in the 2023 NFL Draft, which is scheduled to take place Thursday, April 27 through Saturday, April 29 in Kansas City.
"A lot of those picks are going to come on Day 3," Snead said. "And what we've been able to do, if our starting lineups were very competent as a collective, we've been able to use those Day 3 picks as relatively competent depth players that come in to partner with those starters when necessary."
