Rams News: Why Bill Simmons Is Skeptical LA Will Improve on 2023 Season

Can the Horns build on their 10-7 finish and wild card exit in 2024?

Oct 16, 2022; Inglewood, California, USA; Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford and wide receiver Cooper Kupp. / Robert Hanashiro-USA TODAY Sports

Following a surprise 10-7 season in 2023, the Los Angeles Rams made a wild card berth in the playoffs, one season removed from a miserable 5-12 finish. The team just picked 10 new players in a generally well-regarded 2024 NFL Draft run, starting with the No. 19 selection, former Florida State University defensive end Jared Verse. Los Angeles has a solid signal caller in Matthew Stafford, hot off a Pro Bowl appearance, and a stellar receiver corps that boasts two All-Pros in Cooper Kupp and Puka Nacua. Rookie Blake Corum is expected to join incumbent running back Kyren Williams to bolster the club's run game.

So why does Bill Simmons of The Ringer believe the team could be due for a regression? We'll let him tell you, via his eponymous show The Bill Simmons Podcast.

"The only reason I paused on them as, I didn't know if they were going to get better, is because they lost Aaron Donald, one of the most important football players in this century," Simmons says. "That probably means something, but he wasn't, you know, Aaron Donald, all-caps, five exclamation points, last year, but he was still one of the five best defensive lineman in the league.

"So I just don't know what that means," Simmons continued. "It's one of those things. Sometimes a transformative guy like that leaves a team, and there's just this gaping hole that people are like, 'Oh, we know it was going to be bad, but we didn't know it was going to be like this!'"

Donald announced his retirement, wrapping up an incredible run as a 10-time Pro Bowl honoree, a three-time Defensive Player of the Year, and a Super Bowl champion. He's destined to become a first ball Hall of Famer, and surely will be missed to some extent.

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