After missing out on Christian McCaffrey, Rams must pivot to pass rush
Les Snead said that after Von Miller signed with the Bills in free agency, the Rams pivoted to a different position: wide receiver. They signed Allen Robinson, their first big splash of the offseason.
The next two weeks offer another opportunity for the Rams to pivot, this time away from running back and back toward the pass rush. They missed out on Christian McCaffrey, who the 49ers acquired in a trade with the Panthers this week.
The Rams were in on McCaffrey and tried to pry him from the Panthers, but the 49ers beat them to the punch. That doesn’t mean Snead and Sean McVay should go to the next running back on their list of potential targets.
It’s not a high-priority position right now. McCaffrey was an exception because of his rare skill set, but the Rams shouldn’t give up picks simply for the sake of adding depth in the backfield. The pass rush is a much bigger problem.
We’ve been over this before, but the Rams’ edge rushers have been terrible this season. Leonard Floyd is second on the team with nine pressures in six games, 15 fewer than Aaron Donald. Justin Hollins and Terrell Lewis have four each, and the team’s top three edge rushers have two sacks combined.
Perhaps it’s a blessing in disguise that the Rams didn’t land McCaffrey. Had they traded for him, they’d have given up at least their second- and third-round pick in 2023. Now, they can use those two premium picks to acquire a pass rusher – perhaps Bradley Chubb or Robert Quinn.
Good teams aren’t going to part with good pass rushers, and even bad teams won’t give away their premier rushers for nothing (see: Panthers, Brian Burns). So had the Rams landed McCaffrey, there’s very little chance they would’ve been able to acquire an impactful edge rusher, too. That would’ve been too many picks to give up, even for the Rams.
Now they can focus on helping a pass rush that ranks 31st in pressure rate, according to Pro Football Reference. And that’s with Aaron Donald on the team.
There’s no reason to sulk about losing the McCaffrey sweepstakes. The Rams have bigger fish to fry.
