THOUSAND OAKS — Relationships can be complicated.
It’s always important to communicate, exercise patience, be accepting, that kind of thing. To manage expectations.
To adjust your expectations.
Because one minute, your relationship with your favorite team might have had you asking whether your squad is going to be the first to win consecutive Super Bowl championships since the New England Patriots in 2004-2005.
Exactly one year later, your relationship with that same team has you asking another, more difficult question: Should we tank for the No. 1 pick? Crumble for Caleb?
For better, for worse, you know? For richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health.
It’s a lot to process if you’re a Rams fan.
Because even if you want to draft Caleb Williams, USC’s reigning Heisman Trophy winner, with the No. 1 overall pick next year, you don’t really want to watch your team flounder for a whole season.
You want to see a competitive “remodel,” as Rams general manager Les Snead described the team’s current situation.
Even without Cooper Kupp – one of the main pillars of the Rams’ self-described “load-bearing walls” – out for at least the start of the season and maybe longer with a hamstring injury, you don’t want to see the Rams’ house collapse.
So you’re going to root for Van Jefferson, the Rams’ fourth-year receiver, to rebound after knee surgery cost him the first six games last year, when the Rams limped to a 5-12 finish. You want Jefferson to show you why Rams coach Sean McVay has been raving about him in camp: “He’s confident, he’s playing violent at the point of attack, he’s making contested catches … and that’s the Van that we know.”
But also, if you’re a fan, you just know, in your heart of hearts, you don’t want him to make too many of those plays, lest some of them win the Rams games they can’t afford to win without giving up pole position for that No. 1 pick. Because in the NFL, No. 1 goes to the team that came in last the previous season, no ping-pong balls required.
And still, you don’t want this season to be a waste of time. You don’t want to be miserable every weekend.
You’re hoping to see some improvement, to feel proud of the forward (but not too forward?) progress from a team relying on so many rookies and first-time starters.
You want to see what havoc rookie guard Steve Avila can cause. And on the other side of the ball, what rookie outside linebacker Byron Young is capable of playing beside Aaron Donald, the Rams’ load-bearing defensive tackle who’ll head a line that is otherwise entirely on rookie contracts.
Lakers fans can relate. Not all that long ago, they were finding appeasement in a fun, toddling roster of Jordan Clarkson, D’Angelo Russell, Brandon Ingram and Julius Randle – and the expectation that better times were around the corner.
these former lakers all turned out to be stars
jordan clarkson: 6th man of the year
d’angelo russell: all-star
brandon ingram: all-star & most improved player
julius randle: all-star & most improved player pic.twitter.com/qN9EBNHxzl— buckets (@buckets) May 25, 2021
Shoot. Even the Rams’ 35-year-old Super Bowl-winning quarterback Matthew Stafford can relate. He reminisced Wednesday about all the lumps he took his rookie season, and how they helped make him the All-Pro he became.
“I was coming into a (Detroit Lions) team that was 0-16 the year before, and we were just trying to accumulate as many good players and as many experiences for young ones like myself that we possibly could,” Stafford said when asked about Carolina Panthers rookie QB Bryce Young, the former Santa Ana Mater Dei High star who will make his NFL debut Sunday against the Atlanta Falcons.
“I had games where I threw a lot of interceptions and (coaches) were like, ‘Keep slinging it. Learn. This is the opportunity to learn from those (mistakes). Learn what throws you can make, what throws you can’t make. Learn about your teammates, what it’s like to play in the NFL.’ All that kind of stuff.”
If that’s the stuff this season is made of, if it’s all wisdom and lessons – to borrow Lakers coach Darvin Ham’s translation of W’s and L’s – then a Rams fan can take heart.
At least as long as you can see the light at the end of the tunnel, you can.
Because it’s Williams standing in that spotlight down the road, all but guaranteed to go No. 1. Sure, there will be viable consolation prizes behind him – namely Ohio State wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. and North Carolina QB Drake Maye – but the concept of a USC superstar who loves L.A. being able to stay here and embark on an illustrious pro career with the Rams?
You couldn’t script it better.
Which is why Williams, who has capitalized handsomely on new NIL rules since moving to L.A., did some foreshadowing with statements he and his father made to GQ magazine. They seemed to signal a desire that Williams not wind up with the woebegone Arizona Cardinals, who finished 4-13 last season and then traded down in this year’s draft to help increase their odds of picking high next year.
Said Williams: “I’ve always been able to choose the team that I’ve played on … but now, going into this next part of my career, it’s weird ’cause it’s so uncertain.”
Added his dad, Carl: “The funky thing about the NFL draft process is, he’d almost be better off not being drafted than being drafted first … I’ve talked to Archie Manning – his career was shot because he went to a horrible organization. I’ve talked to Lincoln (Riley), and Kyler (Murray) struggled because of where he was drafted. Baker (Mayfield) struggled mightily because of where he was drafted. The organizations matter.”
“He’s got two shots at the apple,” Carl added. “So if there’s not a good situation, the truth is, he can come back to school.”
But no Rams fan wants to be downtrodden for too long. That’s why this is such a big season, such a tiny eye of a needle to thread: Winning could feel like losing, and losing like winning – unless, of course, the losing feels too much like losing.
See? It’s complicated.