The Los Angeles Rams had a fantastic 2018 campaign in Sean McVay's second season as head coach. Notably, this offseason, the Rams added veterans like Clay Matthews and Eric Weddle to their roster.
Last season, Los Angeles fell just short of bringing home the Lombardi trophy after losing to the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl. Of course, Tom Brady and Bill Belichick won their sixth Super Bowl together—the most by a coach/QB duo.
The Rams are focused on quickly forgetting about the result of Super Bowl 53. Their offseason has seen them address a couple of the issues that became apparent in 2018.
One of the glaring issues for the Rams in 2018 was their inability to get pressure off of the edge. Therefore, bringing in Matthews and re-signing Fowler was a main goal of the Rams.
Matthews is going to be an absolute X-Factor for Los Angeles in 2019 on and off the field. The Rams are hoping for Matthews to be rejuvenated in Wade Phillips' defense.
The former Green Bay Packers edge rusher spent his first 10 seasons in the NFL with the Packers. In those 10 seasons, the long-haired pass rusher totaled 83.5 sacks, 15 forced fumbles, and 121 tackles for loss.
Undoubtedly, Matthews was one of the best pass rushers in the NFL at one point in his career. While he may not be the same dominant edge rusher, he still can find ways to contribute to a contending football team.
In 2018, Matthews looked like he was running out of gas to end the season. Although, maybe he can be revitalized on a defense for a team that has a ton of talent around him.
For the Rams, it's nice having a guy like Aaron Donald in the middle of their defensive line. Donald is the best defensive player in the league and inarguably makes everyone around him better.
With Donald commanding the majority of the double-teams again in 2019, Matthews and Fowler—along with the other edge rushers—are going to need to step up. This is one of the reasons why we could see a huge season for Matthews.
Furthermore, in 2018, the Rams as a team totaled just 39 sacks in the regular season (15th in the NFL). Provided that, Donald had 20.5 of the 39 sacks—showing McVay that there was a shortage of production around him on the defense.
Los Angeles started Samson Ebukam and Matt Longacre to begin the 2018 season at their outside linebacker spots. Neither of them were proven players in the NFL—with both of them totaling just three starts before 2018.
Ebukam remained as the starter for the entire season, while Longacre was eventually replaced by Fowler. Of course, Fowler was acquired from the Jacksonville Jaguars via trade midway through last season.
Now, back to Matthews and how he is going to be key to the Rams defense performing at a high-level. The veteran pass rusher will likely rotate with Ebukam and will be among the leaders in the locker room.
Having an accomplished veteran like Matthews will be vital to the development of Fowler and Ebukam. Especially, considering that Fowler is in a contract-year with Los Angeles in 2019. On the other hand, Ebukam has also shown flashes of his potential as a talented edge rusher.
Again, the Rams didn't receive much production from their edge rushers in 2018. As a matter of fact, Los Angeles only had six sacks that came from their outside linebackers last year. That number will likely rise due to the addition of a talent like Matthews.
The Rams have their eyes set on reaching the Super Bowl again in 2019 and Matthews will be an important piece to solving the puzzle to get there.
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