It started in 2010 with LeBron’s “The Decision” where he took his talents to South Beach with Chris Bosh to team up with Dwyane Wade. Then, there was the iconic Sports Illustrated cover of Steve Nash and Dwight Howard in Lakers uniforms with the title, “Now THIS is Going to be Fun.” Then, Kevin Durant joined the Golden State Warriors after they had already won 73 of 82 games the previous year without him. These moves coined the term that the sports world loves to throw around when stars left and right team up together to form a powerhouse:
“Superteam.”
Now, those moves are obviously in the NBA, where there’s only 5 people on the court and the personnel in assembling a superteam is much more impactful than the NFL. The NFL is a 53-man roster, much more subject to injury, and individual talent is less-important given how much of a wonky, team-oriented sport it is.
However, the way the Los Angeles Rams are going about their business might be the closest thing to it.
Ever since their move to LA, they’ve given up massive draft capital to bring in the biggest stars as opposed to developing young rosters- they go all-in on the now and focus on their problems with having a lack of high draft picks later. Those are future problems! Stars that help the team win in the NOW are the focus of the team. That puts butts in the seats of the billion-dollar So-Fi Stadium. That gives Head Coach Sean McVay weapons that he can use in the moment as opposed to developing down the line.
In 2018, they traded draft picks for Brandin Cooks, Sammy Watkins, Marcus Peters, and Aquib Talib. In 2019, they traded draft picks for Dante Fowler Jr. and Jalen Ramsey. In 2021, they traded their former #1 overall pick and franchise quarterback along with draft picks for Matthew Stafford. And now, in the last two weeks alone, they trad
Photo: Cameron DaSilva / theramswire.usatoday.comed for a former Super Bowl MVP, Von Miller, and signed one of the most-recognizable football players in the NFL, wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr.
The stars are out in LA.
It may be impossible to necessarily field a “superteam” in the NFL, but the message is clear, and the way they’re going about their transactions speaks loudly: they believe they can win a Super Bowl now, they want the biggest names in the biggest city to help them do it, and they know that other players will want to come play there. Odell Beckham had the opportunity to get potentially more touches and more money on a different team, but took less in order to play in the Rams’ system in Los Angeles- that’s an NBA-esque move that a veteran would pull to take less in order to be teammates with someone of the caliber of LeBron James. It makes them an attractive destination in the now- from the glitz and the glam of Sean McVay’s successful coaching system, the largest market in football, other competent superstars on both sides of the ball, the Rams have made it the place where everyone wants to be, whether they’re the pursued or the pursuer.
Throughout the rest of the league, it certainly puts a target on their back. There are other organizations that are just as competent that go about their team-building in a completely different fashion, where draft picks and talent-development are king, and players on rookie contracts that are coached up are what embody the heart and soul of the franchises. Teams like the Ravens and the Colts have had previous opportunities to pursue superstars on their team to win now, but have opted to continue to preserve their draft capital since they both are two of the top teams in terms of improving their home-grown talent. It might not be as “flashy” as going out and essentially buying superstars, but it goes to show that there are multiple ways of creating contenders in the league; it’s almost a blue-collar approach as opposed to the headlines that being able to sell Von Miller and OBJ jerseys instantly.
Will giving up all of their future high-value draft assets come back to haunt them in the future? Only time will tell. Only the amount of Super Bowl rings they’ve all earned together will be the judge. One way or another, the bills for the Rams will eventually come. Von Miller, Matthew Stafford, Odell Beckham Jr., Aaron Donald, and Jalen Ramsey are all going to want to get paid superstar money. Where does that leave the rest of the roster? It leaves them with no first-round or second-round picks where you can get cheap rookie deals. It puts a lot of pressure on the scouting department and coaches to evaluate and develop talent from the bottoms of the barrel as opposed to through the draft.
The Rams are currently sitting at 7-3 coming off of two terrible primetime losses and are second in their division, but when you have this many recognizable faces, it’s Super Bowl or bust. That’s totally unfair in a sport that is so week-to-week, team-oriented, and unpredictable as football, but the Rams are a new case study in both the short-term or the long-term. If it proves to be successful, who knows if this influences the rest of the league and the way they go about treating draft capital. The Hollywood team of the NFL has the potential to be one of the most boom-or-bust strategies the league has ever seen.
