Have all the aggressive moves the Los Angeles Rams made during the offseason officially turn them into the class of the NFC West? Two national football writers think so.
Bleacher Report released their NFL expert picks for who will rise as the 2021 division champs on Thursday and two of the three have chosen the Rams.
Brad Gagnon, Brent Sobleski and Gary Davenport were the trio making their projections for who will be the class of each division. The latter two writers plugged the Rams coming out of the loaded NFC West. One thing all three scribes have in common: None of them picked last year’s division champ the Seattle Seahawks to repeat.
Why it’ll Be the Rams
Two words for Sobleski: Matthew Stafford.
Three more words to add to what will benefit Stafford: Change of scenery. Sobleski, also known as “Sobo,” points to both dynamics as to why he’s chosen the Rams.
“Stafford enters a situation he’s never really been in before,” Sobleski said. “He’ll benefit from one of football’s brilliant offensive minds (head coach Sean McVay). In turn, he adds a completely different dynamic to the offense, because his arm talent allows him to threaten every blade of grass.”
While Davenport went with the Rams, he did admit he had a gut feeling about choosing the 2019 division champ the San Francisco 49ers, especially since the Niners are healthier for 2021.
“I will confess to a temptation to pick the 49ers here,” Davenport said. “If San Francisco gets good quarterback play in 2021, no team in the league is better equipped to go from the outhouse to the penthouse. But the Rams have one of the league’s best defenses and a quarterback in Stafford who can open up Sean McVay’s offense in a way that Goff just couldn’t.”
Perhaps we’ll see this type of connection from Stafford to another newcomer DeSean Jackson.
Or get this out of Stafford/Cooper Kupp.
Or perhaps more bombs like this one to Robert Woods, this time with Stafford tossing the lob.
Gagnon was the lone believer in the Arizona Cardinals, saying “This is the ultimate toss-up, with all four teams having a shot. I like the Cardinals’ momentum compared to the other three.”
Much like the Rams, Arizona dipped into the free agency market hard. The Cards managed to lure in veteran Pro Bowlers J.J. Watt and A.J. Green to bolster the pass rush and passing game, respectively. The Cardinals will look to finally get into the playoffs under head coach Kliff Kingsbury after going 8-8 last year.
Why B/R Isn’t High on Seattle
Since the 2004 season, the Seahawks have been the dominant force in arguably the league’s toughest division: Proven by capturing nine NFC West crowns in 16 years. Arizona and San Francisco have each won three division titles in that span. The Rams have won the fewest at two.
However, B/R points to last season’s faltering as to why the Seahawks weren’t selected as a projected division champ:
“The shine seemingly wore off last season’s Seattle Seahawks. Russell Wilson played like an MVP favorite during the first half of the campaign only to falter slightly down the stretch. The Seahawks’ defense performed historically poorly to open the 2020 season only to improve dramatically over the second half. In the end, Seattle clinched a division title and lost in the Wild Card Round to the Los Angeles Rams.”
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